Speaker of the Riksdag calls new talks as Swedish government deadlock continues
The speaker of parliament, Andreas Norlén, is set to hold a fresh round of talks with party leaders on Wednesday to address the ongoing deadlock over forming a government.
After Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson abandoned her initial attempt to form a centre-left government, Norlén summoned party leaders to a new series of formal consultations – known in Sweden as talmansrunda – on Wednesday. Following these discussions, he will grant a new exploratory mandate to one of the leaders, asking that person to try to form a government. That person may be Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson.
Norlén has set no specific deadline for how quickly a new Swedish government must be established.
"My ambition is that we don't spend 134 days on it this time," he said, referring to the long-running government formation process in 2018, which Norlén also oversaw.
Under the Swedish constitution, the speaker has four attempts to propose a prime ministerial candidate to parliament. If parliament votes down all four proposals, a snap election must be called.
The political landscape remains firmly locked.
For a centre-left government to emerge, either the Left Party must abandon its demand to be included in the cabinet, or the Centre Party and the Social Democrats must agree to allow Left Party ministers.
But if Kristersson is handed the next exploratory mandate, major hurdles lie ahead for him as well, as he would need the Centre Party to switch sides for a centre-right government to be successful – which they refuse to do as long as the far-right Sweden Democrats remain part of Kristersson's backing coalition.
At the same time, the Sweden Democrats maintain that they must be part of any Moderate-led administration.
"We will not accept any government that we are not part of ourselves," said Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson.
Asked whether he sees a risk that the crisis might only be resolved through a snap election, Norlén acknowledged:
"Naturally, the risk is there. But we haven't held a single vote on a prime minister yet, and I still have four attempts." (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: an attempt – ett försök
Swedish businesses plan higher-than-normal price hikes
Swedish businesses are planning larger price increases than usual, according to this month's economic tendency survey from the National Institute of Economic Research (NIER).
At the same time, the overall economic mood in Sweden is continuing to brighten.
NIER's economic tendency indicator rose to 107.1 in September, up from 105.1 in August. This marks the fifth consecutive month of growth for the metric.
Household confidence also saw a significant boost, climbing to 102.2 from 98.4 in August.
"Considerably improved mood among households," NIER noted in a press release.
The report also highlighted positive developments in parts of the labour market.
"Overall, expectations regarding staff numbers point to an increase in the business sector's workforce over the next three months, though recruitment plans vary across sectors. Hiring intentions are stronger than usual in manufacturing and construction, but weaker than normal in retail," NIER wrote. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: economic tendency survey – konjunkturbarometer
State-owned lender SBAB hikes fixed mortgage rates following Riksbank signal
Sweden's state-owned mortgage bank SBAB is raising interest rates on fixed-term loans bound for between one and 10 years, while leaving three-month variable rates unchanged.
Fixed-rate mortgages tied for one year will go up by 0.10 percentage points, while rates for terms between two and seven years will rise by 0.20 percentage points. Lenders opting to lock in their rate for 10 years will see an increase of 0.15 percentage points.
The announcement comes after Sweden's central bank, the Riksbank, flagged in last week's monetary policy update that it expects to deliver two to three key rate hikes, starting towards the end of the year. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: unchanged – oförändrad
Wave of online activism triggers flood of over 15,000 Swedish election appeals
Appeals against the election results continue to pour into the Swedish Election Review Board. Following the 2018 election, the Election Review Board received just over 700 appeals, and after the 2022 election, the number stood at around 400. By Monday afternoon, the number of appeals concerning this year's election outcome had surpassed 15,000.
But there's more behind the increase than meets the eye.
According to the board's chairman, Svante O Johansson, call-outs on various online forums are behind the sudden avalanche.
"However, we don't yet know how much impact that has had," he told the TT news agency.
The board has previously stated that many of the appeals appear to relate to the suspected voter fraud in Borlänge, which is still under investigation with no suspects formally named so far. But various calls to action encouraging people to file an appeal have also been circulating online, according to Johansson. "I can't say how much or how little is down to different causes. There is a huge variety," he said.
"What we have seen, though, is a vast number of unspecified appeals. Sometimes they simply read 'corrupt' with no detail about where an alleged error occurred. Naturally, those cannot be investigated."
Emma Ricknell, a senior lecturer in political science at Linneaus University, who has researched online discussions around voter fraud across recent elections, noted this year's volume of appeals is unprecedented.
"Yes, it really stands out. I haven't seen this kind of digital activism or mobilisation before. We've certainly had discussions in the past, but never on this scale, and never resulting in this many formal appeals," she told TT.
The sheer volume of complaints can easily create a misleading impression of whether the election was conducted properly, according to Ricknell.
"Appealing an election is a democratic right, so there is nothing inherently problematic about it. However, it is a bit strange if people treat it like a petition, believing that a higher number of submissions will push the Election Review Board toward a particular decision," she said. "Instead, all that actually happens is that the Election Review Board gets overloaded."
Johansson echoed this sentiment.
"It's important to remember that the sheer quantity of appeals makes no difference whatsoever. What matters is what is actually written in them," he said. (TT/The Local)
Swedish vocabulary: Election Review Board – Valprövningsnämnden