Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist, 54, a former McKinsey & Co. consultant, suddenly finds her Center Party in a power position with 7.1% of the vote. The gap between the center-left and center-right alliances is only 28,000 votes, and the center-left currently holds a three-seat edge. That razor-thin math means smaller parties will be decisive in determining which side gets the opportunity to try to govern. In short, the Center Party has leverage.
Center Party Secretary Hannes Hervieu told Expressen, "It clearly demonstrates that voters want neither a shift to the left on economic policy nor significant influence for the Sweden Democrats." The party has drawn a hard line against working with the far-right Sweden Democrats, even as Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has promised them cabinet seats for the first time.
On economic policy, the Center Party's market-friendly stance overlaps more with Kristersson's Moderates than with the Social Democrats and the Left Party, who argue for higher taxes to fund welfare. Even so, Ringqvist is positioned to help break the stalemate by remaining in Magdalena Andersson's center-left bloc, turning away overtures from the center-right alliance.
Speaking on Sunday night, Kristersson argued that voters had delivered a majority that "wants a different economic policy to what the Social Democrats campaigned for," adding that he would explore whether a governing coalition could be found "within that majority." Many took that as a carefully worded invitation for the Center Party to switch sides. There is also friction to resolve on the opposition side, where the Center Party and the Left Party refuse to sit in the same coalition.
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By Sweden's parliamentary conventions, the party leader who is ahead is asked to try to form a government. "It is clear this could be a complicated process," current parliamentary speaker Andreas Norlen told national broadcaster SR. The race will not be settled until at least Wednesday and, if the narrow projection for the Social Democrats holds and talks start, negotiations could run for weeks.
Should parliament be unable to approve a new prime minister in four rounds of voting, a fresh election becomes necessary. As of 5:00 local time on Sept. 14, preliminary results covered 94% of the vote, or 6,273 of 6,626 districts, according to the Sweden Election Authority. For your money, the key is who the Center Party sides with and what it secures, because the coalition that emerges will set the tone between market-leaning policies and higher-tax welfare priorities.
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