Center Party opens government talks with Social Democrats

Sweden’s Center Party says it is ready to negotiate a government with the Social Democrats if the preliminary election result stands, SVT reported. Social Democrat Morgan Johansson welcomed the move, saying it was one of the pieces needed to form a government.

The opposition parties currently hold 176 seats, compared with 173 for the Tidö parties. The Social Democrats met at their party headquarters on Monday to discuss how possible negotiations should be conducted, Johansson said.

Several Social Democrats, including party secretary Tobias Baudin, said the party was ready to begin talks with other parties if the result remained unchanged. However, Baudin said it was impossible to say which parties would be involved before the final result was available.

“We will of course not get everything we want, but neither will any other party that we eventually negotiate with,” Baudin said.

The Center Party said it wanted political stability and a clear centrist direction, rather than politics from the extremes. Those would be its starting points in talks with the Social Democrats, the party’s press secretary Hannes Hevieu wrote to SVT.

“That sounds very good. It is one of the pieces that must fall into place to resolve this,” Johansson said.

Asked whether the opposition parties could form a functioning basis for government, he replied that there were “good conditions”. He said the Social Democrats, Green Party, Left Party and Center Party were closer to one another than the parties involved in the January Agreement.

“Everyone on this side wants to change the government. That is the starting point,” Johansson said. He added that he did not believe any of the parties wanted deadlock to lead to a new election.