Sweden’s parliament will on Thursday vote on Magdalena Andersson’s nomination as prime minister, amid a deadlock in negotiations to form a new government after last month’s election.

Parliamentary Speaker Andreas Norlén announced the planned vote on Tuesday, saying he would nominate Ms Andersson to lead a single-party Social Democratic government despite the failure of four parties to agree on a coalition.

Ms Andersson told journalists after meeting Mr Norlén that, although progress had been made in negotiations, the conditions for forming a government with sufficient parliamentary support had not been met.

She said she was ready for parliament to vote on her nomination to lead a government comprising only the Social Democratic Party, as negotiations with other parties had failed to produce an agreement.

However, the Left Party and the Green Party, potential allies of the Social Democrats, said they would vote against a single-party Social Democratic government.

Green Party co-leader Amanda Lind reiterated her preference for a majority government involving all four parties.

According to Swedish public broadcaster SVT, the main obstacle to the negotiations is a disagreement between the Centre Party and the Left Party.

The Left Party has insisted on joining the government and securing cabinet positions, while the Centre Party has ruled out serving in a government alongside it.

The Social Democratic Party, Left Party, Green Party and Centre Party jointly won 176 seats in the 349-member parliament in September’s election, securing a narrow majority but remaining divided over the composition of the new government.

Ms Andersson was first tasked with exploring the formation of a new government on September 18, after outgoing Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson requested to be relieved of his duties following the election.

She returned the mandate on September 28 after the Left Party supported the Moderate Party’s candidate rather than the Social Democrats’ candidate in the parliamentary speaker election.

Mr Norlén reassigned Ms Andersson the task on October 2, but negotiations remained inconclusive, prompting her to request a one-day extension before reporting back on Tuesday.

Under Sweden’s system of negative parliamentarism, a prime ministerial candidate can take office unless at least 175 of the 349 lawmakers vote against the nomination.

If the nomination is rejected, the speaker of the parliament must put forward another candidate. 

(Xinhua/NAN)