STOCKHOLM — Sweden’s center-right opposition and the far-right oust Prime Minister Stefan Lofven in a vote of no-confidence on Tuesday, as the left and right blocs wrangle over who can form a new government after neither won a majority in September 9 elections.
Lofven’s departure was widely anticipated. The head of the opposition four-party Alliance, Ulf Kristersson, has since election night insisted that he intends to try to form a government.
After his ouster, Lofven issues a stark warning to the Alliance about cooperating with the far-right Sweden Democrats.
“If the Alliance chooses to govern as the smaller bloc they will be totally dependent on the Sweden Democrats,” he says.
“The Sweden Democrats were founded by neo-Nazi members of the Swedish white supremacy movement. They have repeatedly been found to have ties to racist and neo-Nazi organisations,” Lofven adda.
“All eyes are now on the Alliance’s big election promise to the Swedish people that it would never govern with the support of the Sweden Democrats.”
The Sweden Democrats says Tuesday they’re ready “to negotiate, cooperate, and talk with all parties.”
“But we will bring down any attempt to form a government that does not give us any influence,” the party’s leader Jimmie Akesson warns.
— AFP
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and his wife Ulla arrive to the Riksdagen parliament building in Stockholm on September 25, 2018. (AFP Photo/Jonathan Nackstrand)
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