Sweden's caretaker PM Kristersson asks for more time to form government

Swedish Prime ​Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Friday he has ​asked for more time to try ‌to form ​a new government, after losing his parliamentary majority in a general election in September.

Kristersson's centre-right bloc won 173 seats against 176 for the opposition in ‌a September vote, but the centre-left bloc has not been able to agree on how to share power, leaving Swedish politics deadlocked since the election. Parliament has rejected two opposition candidates as prime minister and earlier this week, the ‌speaker passed the baton to Kristersson.

His chances of success improved on Friday when the far-right Sweden Democrats said ‌they would not block his path and the Centre Party — part of the opposition — said it would hold talks with him. Kristersson said the situation remained difficult and it was hard to see how any party leader could form a majority government.

"But today's decision from ⁠first ​the Sweden Democrats and then the ⁠Centre Party may make my task a bit less impossible," he told reporters. The rise of the Sweden Democrats, who have 62 ⁠MPs in the 349-seat parliament, has complicated the process of government formation.

The Centre Party has split from the mainstream right, rejecting ​any cooperation with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, and has joined the centre-left opposition. But its leader Elisabeth ⁠Thand Ringqvist has also ruled out sitting in government with the Left Party, leaving that bloc short of a majority. On Friday, Thand Ringqvist ⁠said ​she would give Kristersson and Social Democrats leader Magdalena Andersson a week to put forward their political agendas and show how they would get them through parliament without giving "extreme" parties any influence. The Centre Party will ⁠then pick which side to support, she said.

"Ulf Kristersson needs to explain how he intends to ensure that the ⁠Sweden Democrats don't ⁠dictate terms," Thand Ringqvist said. "Magdalena Andersson ... needs to show how a government could function without the Left Party." The speaker can put forward four candidates before a new election has ‌to be ‌called.