Swedish PM Kristersson resigns after narrow election defeat

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced his resignation on Thursday after his ruling right-wing bloc was narrowly defeated by the centre-left opposition in Sunday's general election. Preliminary results show roughly 50,000 votes separated the two blocs in a country of about 10 million people.

Opposition parties led by Magdalena Andersson of the Social Democrats are set to win 176 seats in the 349-seat Riksdag, Sweden's parliament, while Kristersson's right-wing bloc — backed by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats (SD) — is projected to take 173 seats, according to the Swedish Election Authority. Final results are expected to be certified this weekend.

Following a prime minister's resignation, the Speaker of the Riksdag leads talks with all parties to propose a candidate for the next government, who is then voted on by MPs. In his resignation statement, Kristersson said he was asking to be relieved of his post so that process could begin immediately.

Andersson said the Swedish people had voted for a new direction for the country. The Social Democrats have regularly led Swedish governments since World War Two and have long been the country's dominant political force. After four years in opposition, Andersson is expected to return to power and has already opened talks with the Left Party, the Centre Party and the Green Party about forming a coalition government.

Those negotiations could take time given significant differences between the parties, particularly over tax policy. Kristersson noted that statements made by parties before the election could complicate government formation. Previous coalition talks took 37 days after the 2022 election and 134 days after the 2018 election.

Notably, the Sweden Democrats — founded by Nazi sympathisers in the 1980s but rebranded since the mid-2000s into the country's second-largest party — lost support for the first time since entering parliament in 2010, down three percentage points from 2022.