Sweden's centre-left prime minister, Stefan Lofven, will have to stand down after losing the support of parliament. The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats (SD) backed the vote to remove him, weeks after a general election that delivered a hung parliament. Mr Lofven was opposed by 204 MPs, with 142 voting in favour. The parliamentary speaker will now propose a new prime minister, with centre-right leader Ulf Kristersson seen as the most likely candidate. Mr Lofven is expected to stay on as caretaker prime minister while his replacement is decided, in a process that could take weeks. Mr Lofven, the leader of the Social Democrats, came to power in 2014. In this month's election, his centre-left bloc won 144 seats, one more than the centre-right bloc led by Mr Kristersson. Sweden Democrats tap immigration fears Neither of the blocs intends to govern with the SD, the third-largest party in the new parliament with 62 seats. A member of Mr Kristersson's Moderate party, Andreas Norlen, was confirmed as the parliament's new speaker on Monday, with the support of SD. The splintered nature of the house makes securing a stable government tricky because Mr Lofven's party has ruled out backing a centre-right minority government. Two of the four members of the centre-right bloc say they will quit if it negotiates a deal with the SD. If there are four unsuccessful attempts to form a government, that will trigger fresh elections - something which has never happened before. Source URL |
