Sweden prime minister steps down after opposition wins parliamentary majority

Ulf Kristersson has been Sweden's prime minister since 2022, but not anymore.

He stepped down after he lost a majority at Riksdag – the country's parliament – by a 3-seat margin to a left-leaning party in the recent general election.

In response, Kristersson asked the speaker of parliament to accept his resignation.

"Now it is the speaker who will lead the next stage of the way to a new government. I am herewith requesting that I be relieved of the office of prime minister to allow that work to start immediately," Kristersson said on X.

But Magdalena Andersson, whose party, the Social Democrats, won the most seats individually, did not automatically become the next prime minister.

To become the next prime minister, the ex-prime minister must stitch together a governing coalition that can support her.

However, here lies the rub: forming a coalition is challenging due to the delicate landscape of Swedish politics.

Especially in the opposition, four parties generally do not see eye to eye on every matter.

For example, the Centre Party and the Left Party.

Both parties reportedly have a mutual reluctance to some degree because they have divergent policies on different issues.

So, if the Centre Party forms a coalition with the Social Democrats because it did not want to work with the Sweden Democrats because of their far-right roots, it will struggle to tolerate the Left Party in the coalition.