that was quicker than I thought
He’s gone 142 - 204
oh dear
Likely outcomes;
Next stage is a confidence vote on the ability of Ulf Kristersson (Moderat & Allians leader) to form a Govt as PM. He wont survive it without the support of SD or MPs within the red-green bloc
SD have said they will vote down all Govt.s that don’t allow them policy-making influence
…so it that holds then it’ll be a no for Ulf. If a deal is done & SD back him then C & L have stated they will leave the Allians - which will trigger a new election (though there is a remote possibility of a M+KD+SD minority Govt)
If Ulf gets voted down then it’s on to round 3 of a PM vote & it’ll be Jimmy Åkesson f SD who’ll stand. He wont win a vote
Round 4 will br a choice between Annie Lööf (C) as new PM or an automatic new election if she’s voted down
So either it’ll be
A) New Election
B) Tory + Fascist minority Govt (Danish style)
C) cross party coalition of MP+S+C+L with passive support of V with maybe Annie Lööf as PM (though her party only got 8.5% of the vote)
Then it’ll be time to vote on a budget
So it’s all kind of fucked
I don’t know what you’re trying to say here, sorry
Aha - putting C in brackets changed to a copyright symbol …now I see
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Hej guys
more than 2 months on from the election & we still don’t have a Govt
but today is a big day - in a a few minutes will be the parliamentary vote that Ulf Kristersson (M) hopes to see confirm him as new Prime Minister
Let’s recap;
Previously M + KD + C + L was the centre-right Alliance, led by Ulf Kristersson (M). They have spent the last month trying to form a Govt to take to vote. They carry a combined mandate of 143 seats compared to V+MP+S (the red-green bloc) which carries 144. 175 seats are needed for a parliamentary majority.
Yesterday the right-wing nationalists SD reversed their previous position of saying they would vote down any government that did not include them in a formal role by making a public statement in support of Ulf Kristersson (M) saying that they would vote for his candidacy today.
That would give the centre-right Alliance + SD a total of 205 and a clear majority
HOWEVER. C + L have said that they will not form a Govt with the support of SD - they went to the polls saying that & they reaffirmed it yesterday so the Alliance is now officially dead. C + L will NOT be voting to support Ulf Kristersson’s candidacy as PM today.
So where does that leave us?
It leaves us with M + KD attempting to form a minority Govt with the support of SD. Together they are 21 seats short of a majority so it is highly doubtful that this configuration will succeed …but it might. And even if it doesn’t the worrying signs are there
…wait…BREAKING NEWS …
Ja: 154
Nej: 195
Ulf Kristersson is voted DOWN
So, where was I…?
Yes, still no Govt
and thankfully no blue-brown coalition
Alliance is dead
what just happened today though is best summed up by the SD leader Jimmie Åkesson himself
“Vi ser hur M och KD närmar sig en konservativ sammanslutning i riksdagen. Konstellationen M, KD och SD behöver 21 mandat till, När vi står här om fyra år, ska jag har gjort allt för att vi ska ha de mandaten”
which roughly translates as
“We see how M & KD are approaching a conservative coalition in Parliament. M+KD+SD needs ony a further 21 seats to have a ruling majority. When we stand here in 4 years time I will have done everything in my power for us to have those seats”
Soooo… that’s nice then. A very plausible blue-brown coalition in 4 years time.
What now?
I guess it’s Annie Lööf’s turn to make a play for Prime Minister with a cross-party unity Govt of some kind, probably C+L+MP+S with passive support from V.
but in all likelihood it looks like we’re going to have to re-run the election and then Åkesson’s promise to pick up those 21 seats becomes a question for January rather than for 4 years from now
things are more than a little fucked up
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btw
the fucking chutzpah of Ulf Kristersson in his press conference right now saying that he would never go into government with SD (having just gone through this vote!)…and also reminding the assorted journalists that there are 3 more Prime Ministerial voting rounds before the country is forced to go to the polls again as if he thinks he’s still in with a chance of forming a Government and being Prime Minister
hate that guy so much
It’s such a mess. Do you have a sense of how SD support would look if there was another election in Jan?
I saw some poll figures yesterday that I can’t find now that show support for S, C, V & SD has increased since the last election by (I think) 0.6%, 0.8%, 0.8% & 1.2% respectively and everyone else had gone down - M by nearly 1%. But these are all within margins of error and of course were polled before the fiasco of the last 24 hours
So bizarre really that C + L would effectively vote against themselves being in a governing coalition - doesn’t show much confidence in Kristersson’s integrity does it?
Interestingly, when I checked social media after Åkesson’s announcement yesterday that SD would back Ulf it seemed that the greatest noise of disenchantment was coming from SD supporters who saw it as a betrayal that SD should back a globalist rather than sticking with their nationalist position
so, in sum, who the fuck knows how things are going to turn? But I think a fair few people who voted M as a sensible centre-right, economically liberal option in September aren’t gonna do that again
Interestingly, it does seem that both Löfven & Kristersson still believe they have chances left to become PM rather than the nuclear option of the uncertainty of a new election
we’ll see
One interesting thing that I found out yesterday though:
In 2016 the Govt. here voted in temporary measures to ‘reduce the strain’ of asylum seeker applications - the so-called ‘andpaus’ (pause for breath) which for many on the left were seen as a betrayal by S+MP of Sweden ‘immigrants welcome’ reputation. This I knew already.
What I didn’t know is that in the event of there being no Government, temporary measure revert back to the original statue and can’t be renewed (as there can be no parliamentary vote on renewal). The ‘andpaus’ temporary legislation runs out in March next year. Which will mean that all the asylum seekers that were issued temporary residence status under the andpaus rules will revert to default permanent status. Also rights to family reunification will no longer be suspended ie, relatives from their home countries will once again be allowed to seek asylum here based on having settle family here.
All of which returns things to as they should be (defaulting to Swedish law rather than retreating to minimum EU requirements) but a potential political football in the months to come
edit: there is too much use of the word interesting here but it’s all very fascinating and appalling at one and the same time …so
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Question - who’s actually running Sweden in the meantime? Obviously not passing new legislation or anything, but in the sense of representing Sweden on the international stage, taking control in emergencies etc?
Obvs in the UK the previous PM remains in place until a new one has been chosen and in say America it’s a non-issue because the president is directly elected and if all else fails they’ve got a clear ordered list of people who would take their place, but what’s the deal over there?
Civil servants are running things domestically and internationally, pretty much without exception - and obviously local and county councils are taking care of the day-today as independently as usual. European Parliament is separately elected candidates with 5 year mandates so no change from the last election in 2014 until next year’s
the post above though gives some indication of what a lack of Govt. has for consequences on a national lawmaking scale. Plus of course there will soon be a trigger to emergency fiscal planning for 2019 as the budget voting takes place after a new govt is formed and that doesn’t look like happening before the end of the year. Not sure what the procedure is there but it will be civil-service directed. Not optimal at all
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day-to-day* ffs
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Interesting - thanks 
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no problem
tbh, if I’d known it was going to go on this long I would have been a bit more clear on the runners and riders - pictures & profiles on each leader & their party etc
maybe I’ll do that soon given that it’s clearly going to drag on at the very least until Christmas
Looks like they got there in the end…
Yep
fucking hell tho
as @megalithicrock says…
Sweden finally got a new Government today
Stefan Löfven clings on as Prime Minister with the same Social Democrat + MP (Green Party) coalition as the last four years
BUT
in frankly fragile circumstances and with too many concessions to the ‘centre right’ for my liking
all explained here;