Polls narrow Swedish opposition’s options for forming a government
A decline in support for Sweden’s Social Democratic Party has narrowed the possible scenarios for forming a government after the election. As The Local Sweden reports, an Indikator Opinion poll for public broadcaster Sveriges Radio showed that support for the Social Democrats had fallen by 3.4 percentage points since the end of August, to 27.9%. This is the party’s lowest result in polls conducted by this company.
Another poll, conducted by Novus, showed the opposition’s lead over the right-wing Tidö bloc narrowing from 9.6% in June to 2.6%. In this survey, support for the Social Democrats fell by 4.3 percentage points over a month, to 25.8%.
Insufficient seats for a left-wing coalition
According to The Local’s calculations based on the Indikator poll, an alliance of the Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Green Party falls 14 seats short of a majority. In the spring, this combination had a majority in some polls. Another coalition option, preferred by the Centre Party and the right wing of the Social Democrats, is 21 seats short of a majority.
Social Democratic migration spokesperson Ida Karkiainen believes that the Centre Party’s position may prompt some Social Democratic voters to vote for the centrists or the Left Party. According to her, voters may choose the Left Party to shift a future government to the left, or the Centre Party to shift it to the right.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Differences among potential partners
Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist said earlier this month that she wants to form a four-party centrist government involving the Christian Democrats. According to Indikator, such a coalition would have a four-seat advantage.
At the same time, the Greens ruled out participating in a government together with the Christian Democrats. They said that party leader Ebba Busch had harmed Sweden’s environmental policy during four years as minister for energy and enterprise. Busch, for her part, said she would rather agree to a new election than join or support such a government.
If the election results match the Indikator poll, Magdalena Andersson could receive support in the vote for prime minister with a margin of 14 votes if the Centre Party agrees to a government involving the Left Party, or if the Left Party supports a Social Democratic government without having its own ministers. The centrists are currently not prepared to support a cabinet with Left Party ministers, while the Left Party insists on receiving ministerial posts.
