Sweden faces political deadlock after far-right gains

[melvinmelvin]

Mr Kristersson, M, has just concluded his press conference.

Was not as impressed with this one.

 

First half a bit so so, he is very very disappointed and a wee bit bitter and it shines through.

Last half was pretty good.

He is extremely clear on what he can/can not do, with the kind of political support he can muster.

 

[melvinmelvin]

13 minutes ago, melvinmelvin said:

Mr Kristersson, M, has just concluded his press conference.

Was not as impressed with this one.

 

First half a bit so so, he is very very disappointed and a wee bit bitter and it shines through.

Last half was pretty good.

He is extremely clear on what he can/can not do, with the kind of political support he can muster.

 

 

Right now,

press conference with Mr Aakesson, leader of the populist Swedendemocrats,

he is not a bad orator at all, pretty good actually, as many populists are.

 

The interesting bit, little piss talk, everything pretty much good quality and pertinent to the Swedish situation,

no campaigning here. They are workin on becoming "sitting room clean" as we say  in Norway.

 

Dunno if anybody follows the broad casts,

but the SD leader is from Southern Sweden, his dialect might be somewhat tricky to understand.

 

[melvinmelvin]

Following SD/Mr Aakesson came C/Ms Loof,

 

lengthy but OK press conference offering clarity to many issues, she is pretty good

However,

she was very reluctant to say a lot about the relationship to the leftmost V party,

limited herself to say that the V leader must now find out what kind of PM he wants

a social/centre PM or a conservative PM.

 

[melvinmelvin]

Then came Mr Sjostedt, the leader of leftwing V parti, not a small party, 28 seats.

 

He kinda put things in perspective.

He said, their preference would be Mr Lofven as PM.

 

HOWEVER,

we can not a accept a basis for a S-C-L-MP platform that leaves V out in the wild open without any influence.

Mr Lofven and the others must fix the written/agreed basis basis for the coalition if they want our support.

 

So, Mr Lofven as PM is our preference but we are not quite there yet, there is work left to be done.

As of today V will reject Lofven (S-C-L-MP) as PM.

 

He further said;

I told the speaker today that if you are desperate to have a PM by Wednesday you should try

promote Mr Kristersson with his M and KD and possibly SD support.

 

Note the 28 V votes are needed for S-C-L-MP to come above computed majority in the PM vote,

alternatively, those 28 votes would be needed for Mr Kristersson in order to break computed majority. 

 

jeez,

ain't easy being Speaker in Sweden now, bumpy roads.

 

 

 

 

[melvinmelvin]

And now Mr Bjorklund, the leader of the Liberal party has held his conference

Lengthy, lot of interest in msm for this

 

It is very clear that he struggles re the relationship with leftist V party.

 

He doesn't seem to have much leeway/room for manouvere from his party.

 

 

Now, next is that the Speaker will meet with the MP (green) party.

 

At 9 pm Thai time the Speaker will call a press conference and inform of his next steps.

 

(can only say, this is very difficult, and it is very very clear that the lack the kind of experience

 that politicians in Denmark and Norway have)

 

 

[melvinmelvin]

The Swedish Speaker has just concluded his press conference

(impressive piece really - that man is no amateur)

 

anyway, his conclusion - delay the process for another 48 hours

 

see if S and V can hack it one way or the other so that V can support the S-C-L-MP government,

the most difficult element here will be L.

 

the Swedish PM selection process is very very different from the process followed in Norway

nobody guides and facilitates and helps the process in Sweden it is entirely left to the MPs

the Speaker just set deadlines

problem is, the MPs need help to get it sorted - that is quite clear

 

 

 

 

[Scott]

Off-topic post and reply removed.  

 

[melvinmelvin]

 

The leader of the Swedish leftwing party V (28 seats) Mr Sjostedt,

has had thorough discussions with Mr Lofven, S, re a potential cooperation platform

that would make it possible for V to support the S-C-L-MP coalition.

 

The decision making bodies in V are meeting right now to determine if

an agreeable platform is there, (or not),

[melvinmelvin]

Just read in Norwegian msm startsiden.no that the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet

has arranged for a poll re the voters stance on cooperation with the

populist party Swedendemocrats, SD and the leftwing party V.

 

Svenska Dagbladet is one of the largest newspapers in Sweden, and no rag, it is a top quality newspaper.

 

53% of voters were positive to other parties cooperating with SD where relevant, 39% were opposed

 

56% of voters were positive to cooperation with V, 33% were opposed.

 

Judging from this poll, the national assembly acts contrary to the wishes of the electorate.

 

 

 

[melvinmelvin]

At 8 pm Thai time,

the Speaker in Sweden will nominate a PM candidate  for 

the 3rd and penultimate/final PM vote to take place on Friday

 

Right now the Speaker is meeting individually with all party leaders.

 

He is done with S, M and SD and meeting with C now.

 

Some dodgy business going on here,

during the press conference after his meeting with the Speaker

Mr Lofven, S, expressed that he was prepared for nominated as PM candidate.

However, he would not respond to questions related to if he had secured the necessary support from V.

 

no politics without dodgy business, only in your dreams

 

[melvinmelvin]

Mr Sjostedt, V, 28 seats, has just completed his talks with the Speaker and his press conference.

 

Jeez, this is a complicated setting for the Speaker, to the extent that he is feeling responsible

for establishing a functional government in Sweden.

 

What we had this morning:

 

SD 62 seats, sidelined

V 28 seats, in limbo

M+KD less than 100 seats in opposition - kinda powerless

the S-C-L-MP coalition, lacking a few seats to meet computed majority

 

S-C-L-MP has established an agreed political platform/manifesto

 

V yesterday had lengthy talks with Mr Lofven re creating a S-V platform that would ensure V's support for the government.

They got half way, some of V's wishes/demands Mr Lofven said clearly NO to because it would break the S-C-L-MP

platform.

S and V did agree on a set of issues important to V but not on the two most important issues.

 

Two most important issues:

labour/workers rights and protection

housing regulations (1st hand + 2nd hand + rents), this may sound kinda special

but this is politically VERY important in Sweden.

 

Conclusion:

V will refrain from voting on Friday (if the Speaker nominates Mr Lofven)

   This means Mr Lofven will fly with S-C-L-MP support

 

V will support S in parliament in the areas where they agreed yesterday (and others as they feel fit)

they have put down 2 red lines;

labour/workers rights and housing regulations

if S even tries to introduce liberal (C+L) watering down of existing regulations

the leftwing party V will vote down the Socialdemocratic government.

 

Kinda like Brexit, the national political happiness is limited and thinly spread.

 

-----

 

Too complicate matters a bit further;

The populist Swedendemocrats, many call them anti muslim and anti immigrant and fascist,

is actually quite modern and socialistic in their handling of many economic issues,

maybe they could even agree with some V views on eg housing and worker's rights

 

---

Interesting times.

 

[melvinmelvin]

2 minutes ago the Speaker and Mr Lofven, S, held a joint press conference

 

The Speaker said that he will, today, formally make a nomination of Mr Lofven, S as PM candidate.

The national assembly will vote on this on Friday this week.

 

(the formal nomination will be during a Speaker alone press conference in a few minutes)

 

The political basis for this nomination;

 

S and MP will form the actual cabinet, the cabinet will be supported by C and L

S-MP-C-L has an agreed political platform within which they will work.

 

The leftwing V has an agreement with Mr Lofven, S about certain areas that are OUTSIDE, the

agreed platform between S-C-L-MP.

 

Voting on Friday expected as follows;

SD, KD, M will vote REJECT

V, will vote ABSTAIN

S, C, L, MP will vote ACCEPT

 

SD+KD+M is below the computed majority of 175, hence, Mr Lofven should fly.

 

 

 

[melvinmelvin]

 

Right now the Swedish national assembly is meeting in order

to vote on Mr Lofven, S as PM and to see if his proposed cabinet/government

can be tolerated by the assembly

 

stay tuned

 

[melvinmelvin]

24 minutes ago, melvinmelvin said:

 

Right now the Swedish national assembly is meeting in order

to vote on Mr Lofven, S as PM and to see if his proposed cabinet/government

can be tolerated by the assembly

 

stay tuned

 

this is going to take time

 

all party leaders are giving political speeches before the voting will commence

 

this I did not expect

 

some interesting speeches though

the populist leader - very good

 

[melvinmelvin]

right now,

Mr Kristersson, M, (the possible PM candidate that didn't make it) speaks

terrible speech - he is still bitter and can't hide it

 

maybe the conservative M party ought to look for a new leader

 

 

[melvinmelvin]

 

OK, done

voting over

 

Mr Lofven, S, passed the test

The reject votes did not get even close to computed majority.

 

So, as of 15 minutes ago Mr Lofven is PM elect.

 

The formal appointment of him as PM will take place on Monday,

with King in regalia I assume.

 

(mind you the PM/cabinet is the King's council)

 

 

 

(feeling inclined I might make a piece later on the political challenges here, they are not few and far between)

 

 

GUYS

 

long process, at end!

 

thanks for listening.

 

[melvinmelvin]

 

here is The Economist's take on the situation:

 

https://www.economist.com/europe/2019/01/18/sweden-grudgingly-gives-stefan-lofven-another-term-as-prime-minister

 

 

[melvinmelvin]

 

As of now, in a few hours, the new government in Sweden has been operational for a week.

Monday last week the king installed Mr Lofven, S, as PM.

 

Many are the political commentators in Sweden that predict that this government will not have

a long life, the challenges and the political terrain are just too much.

Only time will show,k as always.

 

For sure, the difficulties/challenges are not few and far between, flexibility experience and skill is needed

to navigate in this terrain.

 

To sum up a bit,

 

The cabinet is formed by S (socialdemocrats, red) and MP (environmentalists, green).

This cabinet is propped up by C (Centre, liberal party, blue) and L (Liberals, liberal party, blue)

Apparently, C and L did not want to sit in the cabinet.

 

This is the first ever blue/red crossover government in Sweden.

 

The opposition,

SD (Sweden Democrats, brown?) sidelined and isolated

M, (moderates, conservative, blue) and KD (christian democrats, conservative, blue) forms the main opposition

 

The rulers,

S, MP, C, L has developed a 70-odd point political program between them, a manifesto if you like,

working to achieve these political goals is the glue that keeps the 4 together.

Some say that S is too keen on having the PM and rule, they have given away too much to

liberal ideas. There is an awful lot of liberal politics in that 70-odd point manifesto.

 

Now,

on top of this, we have the V, leftwing party, red.

They have a deal with Mr Lofven, the PM, to work together for some achievable goals that are close to V's heart

and outside the 70-odd point manifesto.

In return for that V did not vote down Mr Lofven as PM.

 

However,

Mr Sjosted, the leader of V, has made it crystal clear that there are elements in the 70-odd point manifesto

that he can just not tolerate. If the cabinet tries to push those elements he is fully prepared to just vote

down the cabinet.

 

These red lines have (mainly) to do with legislation and regulations related to housing, housing estates, rental of homes etc.

Probably difficult to understand for outsiders but this an EXTREMELY politically important area in Sweden.

When handling these issues, utmost political caution must be exercised, very very sensitive stuff.

 

Should Mr Lofven, PM, go for the elements that will cause despair in V, (will happen I think because this

politic is close to the hearts of C and L),

Mr Sjosted, V, may have difficulties in finding support for ditching the government,

even though both M and KD would love to ditch it.

It so happens that what would make V see red is good conservative politics and to the liking of KD and M.

 

My understanding is that SD (brown?) when it comes to economic politics is relatively

close to the Socialdemocrats and somewhat distanced from conservative ideas

 

CHOPPY waters to say the least. Skill experience modesty and flexibility needed to navigate.

 

GUYS,

don't think I have much more to say.

 

Have a Belhaven!