Sweden elects conservative prime minister amid minority government

Sweden has elected a conservative prime minister on Monday, and Ulf Kristersson is set to lead the country from a minority position. His government will operate with outside support from the Christian Democrats and Liberals, while the far right Sweden Democrats also hold influence without holding the full governing majority. The vote tally showed 176 in favor and 173 against, a result that meets Sweden’s constitutional requirement for a prime minister even as the parliamentary majority remains elusive. This scenario comes after a federal election in which the Social Democratic Party secured the largest share of votes but did not command a clear majority, paving the way for a coalition-based arrangement supported by smaller parties to keep Kristersson in the helm for the foreseeable future. The Social Democrats earned about 30.3 percent of the vote in the September elections, trailing the far right Sweden Democrats at 20.5 percent and the conservative bloc at 19.1 percent. These numbers reflect Sweden’s current political fragmentation and the challenges of forming a stable government in a highly divided parliament, where coalition diplomacy and cross-party cooperation become decisive tools for governance.