Social Democrat leader Lofven asked to form new Swedish govt

15 Oct, 2018 13:56 / Updated 6 years ago

The speaker of Sweden’s parliament said on Monday he had asked Social Democrat leader and caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Lofven to try to form a government. The move came after the head of the center-right opposition gave up a similar attempt at the weekend, Reuters reports. A general election on September 9 delivered a hung parliament with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats holding the balance of power. Neither the center-left nor center-right bloc is willing to do a deal with them. Moderate Party and center-right Alliance bloc leader Ulf Kristersson had tried to form a government but failed. Lofven, who has two weeks to find a workable government, lost a vote of no-confidence as prime minister on September 25. His center-left bloc of the Social Democrats, Greens and Left party has 144 seats in the 349-member parliament, one more than the center-right Alliance.