Sweden’s political blocs face unity test as talks with parliament speaker begin
The speaker of Swedish parliament will begin talks on Thursday with eight party leaders to determine who is best placed to form a new government, a process that could take weeks and may end in a snap election.
Swedish Radio’s political commentator, Tomas Ramberg, points out that the speaker will at least be able to establish quite quickly that the different government formations suggested so far are not viable and the parties will need to come up with new alternatives.
But until then, we will also likely see fallouts within the political blocs, Ramberg predicted, and on Tuesday Liberal Party leader Jan Björklund told news agency TT that he was “surprised” to learn that the Christian Democrats’ Ebba Busch Thor had told Swedish Radio that she is willing to accept support from the Sweden Democrats if it means her party can be part of a new government.
Related links from around the North:
Canada: Opposition party adopts resolution to give Canada’s North 100% of northern resource royalties, CBC News
Finland: Finnish PM concerned by far-right party’s results in Swedish elections, Yle News
Sweden: Swedish parliament ousts Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, Radio Sweden
