Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson threw in the towel on her first attempt to form a government, but Åkesson still thinks parliament should hold a vote on her candidacy for prime minister, based on her support from the Green Party, Left Party and Centre Party. The latter two have not been able to agree on which of them, if any, should be allowed to hold ministerial positions in such a government.
"She campaigned on forming a government with these four parties. Now it's time for her to prove it," said Åkesson, adding that he is not afraid of a snap election.
Andersson said she had no viable path forward to form a government after the Left Party voted for Moderate MP Andreas Norlén as parliament speaker.
Several party leaders believe it is now Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson's turn to try. However, he maintained that the decision lies squarely with the speaker.
Asked if he would accept the task, Kristersson said: "I am always ready. I said on election night that if the conditions exist for some kind of non-socialist governing coalition, I stand ready. But it is the speaker who must decide whether those conditions appear to be there," he was quoted by the TT news agency as saying during the formal opening of parliament on Tuesday.
Today, a new round of talks with all party leaders awaits, after which Norlén will assign a new exploratory mandate to one of them.
"My message to the speaker [today] will be that I think he should ensure Magdalena Andersson is put to a vote in parliament as soon as possible," said Åkesson. "The gridlock we are seeing is obvious, and the speaker has the opportunity to put pressure on the parties to either make a move or stay put. But as long as exploratory mandates keep being handed out for several weeks at a time, nothing will happen."
Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar felt Andersson had given up too easily.
"I think so, yes," she remarked, adding that she was unimpressed by how little progress the Social Democrat leader had made during the exploratory phase.
"She had plenty of days at her disposal and failed to move the process forward, in my view," Dadgostar said, accusing the Centre Party of being the root cause of the centre-left bloc's coalition headaches.
"The core issue is that the Centre Party cannot bring itself to choose which majority it belongs to," she added.
The Centre Party supports Andersson as prime minister, but refuses to support any government in which the Left Party holds ministerial positions. The Left Party, on the other hand, has pledged to bring down any government that does not include Left Party ministers.
It's not looking much brighter for Kristersson. His side does not hold enough seats unless he manages to get the Centre Party to re-join the centre-right bloc. The Centre Party, however, refuses to work with the Sweden Democrats.