The Social Democratic Party leader, Magdalena Andersson, is abandoning her attempt to form a government and is returning her exploratory mandate. The announcement came during a hastily called press conference on Monday morning.

Andersson received the assignment to explore the possibilities of forming a government ten days ago. She now concludes that the necessary conditions are not present.

– I can state that, as things stand now, there is no opportunity for me to form a government, she said, according to SVT.

According to Andersson, the decisive factor for her decision was the Left Party’s announcement on Sunday that it intends to vote for the Moderate Party’s Andreas Norlén in Monday’s Speaker election.

Points to the Left Party

The Left Party announced on Sunday that it is backing Norlén, who is also supported by the Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats, and Liberals. This gives him a majority to continue as Speaker. The Left Party justified its decision by highlighting Norlén’s experience from previous complicated government formations.

Andersson interprets this announcement as a change in the parliamentary situation and points out that the Left Party is now joining forces with the Moderates on the issue of the Speaker. At the same time, she says that the Social Democrats will nominate their own candidate for the Speaker post.

Andersson does not want to rule out that the situation could change going forward. When asked whether this means she has given up on the ambition to become Prime Minister, she replies that “at present” there are no conditions for it, but that the coming weeks remain to be seen.

Dadgostar: “Strange”

The Left Party’s leader, Nooshi Dadgostar, rejects Andersson’s characterization that the Left Party and the Moderates constitute any new political constellation.

Speaking to Expressen, she describes the Social Democrats’ message as “somewhat strange.” According to Dadgostar, the support for Norlén is about his experience and the way he has handled previous government negotiations – not about any new cooperation between the Left Party and Moderates.

After the election, the Social Democrats, Left Party, Greens, and Centre Party together hold 176 seats in the Riksdag, while the Moderates, Sweden Democrats, Christian Democrats, and Liberals have 173. Despite this numerical advantage, tensions—primarily between the Centre Party and the Left Party—have made it difficult to resolve the issue of forming a government.

Now that Andersson is returning her exploratory mandate, the process of forming a government moves to the next step. The new parliament convenes on Monday to elect a Speaker, who will subsequently play a central role in the process of nominating a candidate for Prime Minister.