Left Party refuses to drop demand for cabinet posts

Sweden’s Left Party will not abandon its demand for cabinet positions, deputy leader Ida Gabrielsson told SVT, after the Centre Party urged it to return to government negotiations.

Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist has set a deadline of 5 p.m. on Friday for Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson and Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson to present their respective proposals for government. She also said the Left Party must decide by then whether to maintain its demand for ministerial posts or seek policy influence without them.

Gabrielsson called the deadline a “show for the gallery” and said her party had already decided it would seek to join the government. “We are not open to discussing that,” she said, adding that the party could be constructive on other matters.

The Left Party had said earlier on Thursday that it was ready for “constructive four-party talks” if the Centre Party chose Andersson’s proposal. It did not attend a meeting scheduled for Thursday with the other three red-green parties. SVT reported that the other parties met without it.

Gabrielsson said the Left Party would return to talks if it was invited on equal terms. She argued that the process launched by the Centre Party, with the support of the Social Democrats, would limit the Left Party’s influence.