Center-right leader urged to form new government in Sweden | News
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The leader of Sweden’s third-largest party — the center-right Moderates — was formally asked Monday to try to form a government that could include the populist Sweden Democrats, either within a governing coalition or outside to secure a majority.
In Sweden’s election on September 11, the country’s four center parties received 176 seats, while the center-left coalition, which included the ruling Social Democrats, received 173 seats. Then Andreas Norlen, speaker of the Riksdag’s 349 seats, asked the leader of the Moderates, Ulf Kristersson, to see if he could form a government coalition.
Norlen, who has held talks with all party leaders about who might try to form a governing coalition, said he did not mention a date before Kristersson would come back with an answer because it could take time.
“My message to the speaker has been that everything is going well,” Kristersson told reporters after the meeting with Norlen. “I want to form a government that unites, not divides.”
Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Åkesson said after the meeting with Norlen on Monday, adding that “it would suit Sweden to have a majority government. That’s my view.”
The question now is which coalition can reach a majority. One of the centrist parties has said it does not want to be in a coalition with the right-wing Sweden Democrats, a party founded in the 1980s by the far-right and which is now the country’s second largest in parliament.
Various centre-right constellations are possible but it seems clear that the Sweden Democrats will have significant influence in any centre-right government.
The populist party has tried to move towards the mainstream in recent years, standing this year on a platform to crack down on crime and strictly limit immigration.
Sweden has seen an increase in gang violence in recent years and this year there have been 273 shootings, 47 of them fatal, according to police statistics. The shootings also injured 74 people, including innocent bystanders.
Last week, Sweden’s Social Democratic Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson admitted that he had lost the election. She will continue as guardian until a new government is formed.
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