Kristersson tasked to form Swedish government after parliament rejects centrist leader

Parliament rejects the Centre Party leader

Sweden's parliament rejected Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist, leader of the Centre Party, as prime minister on Tuesday, 3 November 2026, voting 324 against and 25 in favour. The result had been expected. Thand Ringqvist had already told the Speaker that her attempt to build a broad coalition had failed, and she had handed back the task of leading the negotiations in late October. Speaker Andreas Norlén still put her name to a vote to push the process forward. All 25 votes in favour came from Centre Party members.

Kristersson takes the next attempt

Speaker Andreas Norlén gave Ulf Kristersson, the outgoing prime minister and leader of the Moderates, one week to try to form a majority government. Kristersson has led a caretaker government since the election of 13 September 2026. Speaking to reporters in parliament, he struck a cautious tone about his chances:

“I already see that it will be difficult. Probably very difficult. But perhaps not entirely impossible.”

He also stressed that the distribution of seats has not changed. His bloc, which includes the Sweden Democrats, holds 173 seats, short of a majority. Over the past four years he governed in a minority with the Christian Democrats and the Liberals, with external support from the Sweden Democrats, a party that has promised a place in any new government if it won the election.

Deadlock between the two blocs

The centre-left opposition bloc won 176 seats against 173 for the centre-right bloc. The four centre-left parties are the Social Democrats, the Greens, the Left Party and the Centre Party. Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson has tried twice to form a government without success, and parliament rejected her in a first vote in mid-October. The Social Democrats took 28% of the vote in September, their worst result in almost a century.

Centre-left opposition bloc176

Centre-right bloc (Kristersson)173

Centre-left opposition bloc

176 seats

Centre-right bloc (Kristersson)

173 seats

Data from the article text

The main obstacle is the Left Party, which says it will support a left-wing government only if it is included in it. The Centre Party has refused to cooperate with the Left Party, and its position on ministerial posts for the Left Party is a red line. Summing up the impasse, Thand Ringqvist said:

“There are many red lines.”

Procedure and what comes next

The Speaker can put up to four prime ministerial candidates to a vote in parliament. Thand Ringqvist's vote was the second, and Kristersson's would be the third. If the fourth attempt fails, a new election must be called, a step Sweden has not taken since 1958. The timeline of the process so far is shown below.

Sweden has a long record of slow government formation. Negotiations took 37 days after the 2022 election and 134 days after the 2018 election. The current deadlock has already lasted almost two months since the September vote, and the next week will decide whether the centre-right bloc can find the votes it lacks.