Swedish opposition leader: I cannot form a government in the current situation

Swedish Social Democrats leader Magdalena Andersson said on Monday she was unable to form a government in the current situation, after elections earlier this month gave her center-left bloc a narrow majority.

Her statement came after the Left Party said over the weekend it would back a candidate for parliament speaker from the rival Moderate Party, which Andersson said damaged her effort to build a government.

“Of course, I take the Left Party’s message seriously and, based on this and on the conversations I have held, I can conclude that there is currently no possibility for me to form a government,” she told a press conference.

The center-left won 176 seats against 173 for the right-wing bloc in power in a vote widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s promise to form a coalition with the far-right Sweden Democrats.

The parliament speaker will now decide whom to entrust with securing support for a government, potentially Kristersson.