Uncertainty sparked as Swedish PM loses vote

Approved no-confidence motion could lead to historic ouster, prospects of polls

Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven faces a choice between calling a snap election or resigning and asking the speaker of Parliament to find his successor after losing a vote of no confidence.

Lofven, of the Social Democratic Party, had been in power for nearly seven years, but was brought down when the Left Party withdrew support from his coalition in a dispute over rent controls, and the nationalist Sweden Democrats called the vote.

The no-confidence motion required 175 votes in the 349-seat Parliament to be passed, and was backed by 181 voters, making Lofven the country's first prime minister to lose a vote of no confidence in the parliament.

Some 109 parliamentarians voted against the motion and 51 abstained after the COVID-19 limit on the number of parliamentarians present in the chamber was temporarily lifted due to the extraordinary circumstances.

Sweden is due to have a general election in the fall of 2022 anyway. Its political landscape has an even balance of center-right and center-left coalitions, meaning a negotiated outcome may be difficult. Lofven has one week to come up with an answer, so there is a strong chance the country may end up having its first snap election since 1958.

"We will hold talks with our cooperation parties," Lofven said following his defeat. "It is what is best for the country that is important. We will work as fast as we can.

"Regardless of what happens, I and my party will be available to shoulder the responsibility for leading the country. My focus has and will always be to do the best for Sweden."

Lofven began his second term of office in 2018, leading a coalition of Social Democrats and Greens, backed by the Center Party and the Liberals, but still needing the approval of the Left, even though they were not formally part of the coalition.

This delicate balance was only secured following long negotiations in the aftermath of an election where the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats made major inroads, becoming the third largest party in Parliament.

No obvious candidate

There is no obvious standout candidate to be the next prime minister.

The Left Party, which has 27 members of Parliament, was instrumental in Lofven's downfall, but its leader Nooshi Dadgostar said it was not to blame for the current situation.

"It is not the Left Party that has given up on the Social Democrat government, it is the Social Democrat government that has given up on the Left Party and the Swedish people," she said, adding her party could be open to helping Lofven return to power, subject to a change of policy over rent, and also saying it would never help a right-wing nationalist government to power.

There is not much desire for an election so close to the next scheduled one anyway, and as he proved after the last election, Lofven is a skilled deal-maker. Several political analysts have backed him to talk his way out of the situation.

"I think nobody wants an extra election … and the Social Democrats would, according to recent polls, lose quite a lot of votes in an election right now," Anders Sannerstedt, a political scientist at Lund University, told the Agence-France Presse news agency.

This opinion was shared by Jonas Hinnfors from the University of Gothenburg.

"He is an extremely good negotiator," Hinnfors said. "Given that the seat distribution is the same, the most likely outcome is that Lofven will come back."

Xinhua contributed to this story.