Ulf Kristersson asked on Thursday, 17 September, to be relieved as prime minister after the Swedish parliamentary election count confirmed a narrow lead for the centre-left opposition. The letter went to Riksdag Speaker Andreas Norlén as soon as the Election Authority finished checking the ballots.

The near-final tally gives centre-left parties 176 of 349 seats. The Tidö governing bloc, backed by the Sweden Democrats, holds 173. The Guardian reports a gap of 50,359 votes between the two camps — enough for a three-seat majority, not enough to close the political argument.

Kristersson, the Moderate Party leader, headed a minority cabinet for four years. His resignation does not automatically install a new government. Norlén discharged the prime minister and ministers from their duties, but they remain in post until a new executive is in place. The cabinet now operates as a caretaker government: it can handle ongoing and urgent business, but it cannot call an extraordinary election.

Magdalena Andersson, the Social Democratic leader and a former prime minister, has opened initial talks with the Centre Party, the Left Party and the Greens. Differences over taxes, nuclear power and whether to enter government formally remain unresolved. No coalition has been signed.

On Friday, 18 September, the Speaker scheduled individual consultations with party leaders in order of party size. Andersson was first, at 10:00. After the round of meetings, Norlén is due to give his impression of the prospects for forming a government. Parliament cannot elect a new prime minister before the week after the Riksdag session opens on 29 September.

Until then Sweden remains a NATO and European Union member under an executive with a limited mandate. A change of majority may shift domestic policy, but the constitutional timetable is slower than the resignation announcement. Government formation depends on consultations, a Speaker nomination and a Riksdag vote, not on Thursday’s result treated as a finished deal.

Image: Riksdag building, Stockholm / Julian Herzog / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. The parliament house, not the resignation. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Sweden’s PM resigns after centre-left bloc wins slim majority | The Guardian; Prime Minister to lead caretaker government | Government.se.