Sweden's Speaker Hands Kristersson the Next Shot at Forming a Government

Sweden's government puzzle is moving on to its next contestant. Speaker of the Riksdag Andreas Norlen will ask caretaker Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to try to secure enough backing to form a government, according to Breaking The News.

Kristersson, who has held the top job since 2022, gets his shot after Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist came up short in a parliamentary vote on Tuesday. The tally was brutal: 25 in favor, 324 against.

Ringqvist isn't the only one who struck out. Former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson also failed to line up the majority needed to claim a mandate, leaving the speaker to work down his list of candidates.

That's how the Swedish process works: the speaker hands out exploratory mandates one at a time, and each hopeful has to prove they can survive a vote in the chamber. So far, nobody has cracked the math.

Kristersson now carries the next attempt, and the question is whether his existing coalition ties give him a head start or whether Sweden's fractured parliament blocks him too.

No timeline has been given for the next vote, and the country remains under a caretaker government until someone can put together a winning coalition.