Sweden’s parliament votes to oust Prime Minister Lofven

Swedish lawmakers have voted to oust Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, shortly after inconclusive general elections that had already left the country in limbo.

A total of 204 of the 349 members of parliament voted against Lofven, while 142 voted in his favor in a mandatory confidence vote in parliament on Tuesday.

Lofven will however lead a transition government until a new administration is installed.

The general elections on September 9 produced a hung parliament in Sweden as no party secured a majority.

Lofven’s center-left bloc won 144 seats, only one seat more than the center-right opposition Alliance Party, which along with the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats — that secured 62 seats — backed the no-confidence motion on Tuesday.

The parliament is likely to propose Ulf Kristersson, the leader of the Moderate Party — the leading party in the center-right Alliance — as Lofven’s successor.

The Alliance still needs support either from the Sweden Democrats or the center left. But the Sweden Democrats have been shunned by both the ruling center-left and the opposition center-right blocs since it first entered parliament in 2010.

“If the Alliance parties choose to try to govern as the smallest bloc, then they make themselves totally dependent on the Sweden Democrats,” Lofven said.

The Social Democrats vowed to bring down any administration that does not give it a say on immigration, healthcare, pensions, and crime policy.

“We will do everything in our power to stop any attempt to form a government and do everything to bring down every government that does not give us a reasonable influence in proportion to our electoral support,” Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Akesson said Tuesday.

EA