The first session of Region Stockholm's new council term, scheduled for Tuesday, may be postponed after the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet) told negotiating partners it intends to vote for the opposition's candidate for regional board chair, according to Dagens Nyheter. The meeting is meant to elect both the council presidency and the chair of the regional board. A decision on whether it will go ahead is expected this afternoon.
Sources with insight into the talks told Dagens Nyheter that the Left Party informed representatives of the negotiating majority on Sunday that it would back Axel Conradi, the Moderate (Moderaterna) candidate for the board chair. Expressen reported the same information.
Why it matters
The four parties that have been negotiating a new regional government — the Social Democrats (S), the Green Party (MP), the Liberals (L) and the Centre Party (C) — hold 69 of the 149 seats in the regional council. A united opposition of the Left Party, the Moderates, the Christian Democrats (KD) and the Sweden Democrats (SD) would hold 80.
Under the council's rules, a regional government does not need a majority to take office; it only needs its candidate to win more votes than any rival in the council ballot. If the Left Party votes with the right, the centre grouping's candidate for board chair, Aida Hadžialić (S), would be outvoted. That uncertainty is why the talks have stalled, according to Dagens Nyheter's sources.
A week of red lines and recriminations
The negotiations have been shaped by each party's conditions. The Centre Party declined to negotiate with the Left Party over a majority government of V, MP, S and C, while the Left Party said it wanted to negotiate on the same terms as the other parties. According to Dagens Nyheter's sources, the Centre Party also turned down an invitation on Thursday to explore a right-of-centre alliance that would have relied on Sweden Democrat support; the party has no governing arrangements with the Sweden Democrats in any municipality in the county and has aimed throughout at a cooperation in the centre.
Talks initially included the Christian Democrats, but those broke down over disagreements about how healthcare should be run, according to the report.
The Social Democrats say they first sought a government of V, MP, S and C. Negotiations on a minority centre government have been under way since Saturday. Writing on Facebook, Hadžialić said the Social Democrats were now negotiating with the Liberals, the Greens and the Centre Party. Jakop Dalunde (MP) said his party was prepared to take responsibility by opening constructive talks with S, C and L on forming a new government — four days after saying he had been ready to go into opposition.
The process has produced accusations of betrayal from both directions. Left Party deputy leader Ida Gabrielsson has criticised the Greens and the Social Democrats for not pushing harder for talks with her party, while the Liberals have faced criticism from the right for negotiating with S and MP. The Left Party's sharpest recent criticism has been aimed at the Greens, which it argues opened the door to a cross-bloc government by negotiating to the right, and which it says should instead have pressed C and S by refusing anything other than talks with V.
Anna Sehlin, the Left Party's group leader in Region Stockholm, did not respond to Dagens Nyheter's request for comment. In a Facebook comment quoted by the paper, she wrote that the least right-wing policy would result if her party were included in the government, adding that it was not too late and that S, MP, C and L lack a majority of their own, which they would gain with V.
Who decides on a delay
Postponing the session is possible, but the decision would fall to the regional board's presiding officers — who are themselves due to be elected at Tuesday's meeting. That leaves the council's age president, Mikael Sundesten (S), to rule on a delay if there are "special grounds". In a comment to Dagens Nyheter, Sundesten confirmed his role and said he would decide this afternoon, stressing that no decision had yet been taken.
Watch for Sundesten's ruling this afternoon, which will determine whether the council meets on Tuesday or the deadlock carries into a later session.
