After losing a no-confidence vote last week, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven announced his resignation on Monday, entrusting the task of finding a new prime minister to parliament’s speaker.
After the Left Party withdrew its support for Lofven in parliament on June 21, frenetic talks ensued as both the center-left and center-right scrambled to line up enough support to form a cabinet.
“I have requested to be dismissed as prime minister,” Lofven told a news conference, admitting defeat in his efforts to find fresh support from lawmakers that might have secured his reappointment.
“It is the most difficult political decision I have ever taken.”
Speaker Andreas Norlen will now have up to four attempts to find a new prime minister with enough backing from parliament. If he fails, a snap election must be called.
Any new administration will be a short one, as regular polls must be held in September 2022.
Lofven, a former union boss and welder, had headed a fragile minority coalition with the Greens since 2018, relying on support from the Centre, Liberals and Left Party to keep power.
His mismatched government is a result of the rise of the Sweden Democrats, a party with roots in the far-right which is now the third-biggest in parliament.
The centre-right split over whether to seek a political accord with them after the 2018 elections, with the Centre and Liberals choosing to support their former rivals instead of giving the Sweden Democrats a chance to influence policy.
The Liberals have switched sides again and the centre-left and centre-right blocs are now evenly balanced in parliament.
Last week’s confidence vote had triggered frenzied talks across the political spectrum as both blocs tried to line up enough support to form a government.
-Reuters
