Sweden's Social Democrat leader Stefan Lofven was handed a fresh chance to form a government Friday after the leader of the conservative Moderates party failed to build a ruling coalition following an inconclusive October election.
Andreas Norlen, speaker of the Swedish parliament, turned again to interim prime minister Lofven after the leader of the conservative Moderates party Ulf Kristersson proved unable to break the deadlock.
Both the two main parties have tried and failed to form a ruling coalition in parliament since the September 9 election.
Lofven's leftwing bloc holds 144 parliamentary seats, just one more than the centre-right Alliance: but that is not enough for a ruling coalition in the 349-seat Riksdag, where the threshold is 175.
Neither side is willing to accept the far-right, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats as a coalition partner. With 62 seats, they are now the third-largest party in the Riksdag.
The centre-right and far-right together brought down Lofven's previous administration in a no-confidence vote at the end of September, though he has stayed on as caretaker prime minister.
"For the citizens, it's time for this situation to end," he said Norlen on Friday, while holding out hope that a new prime minister would be appointed before the December 12 vote on the budget.
In Sweden, the speaker of parliament has four attempts to task a candidate to form a government that parliament will accept. But if all four attempts fail then new elections must be held.
So far, parliament has rejected one proposed minority government.
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