The 2018 Swedish election produced a hung parliament, requiring months of coalition negotiations before a government could be formed.
Key Facts
- Election date
- 9 September 2018
- Result
- Hung parliament, no outright majority
- Leading bloc
- Red-Greens led by Social Democrats (Stefan Löfven)
- Second bloc
- Centre-right Alliance led by Moderate Party (Ulf Kristersson)
- Third-place party
- Sweden Democrats (Jimmie Åkesson)
- PM re-elected
- Stefan Löfven on 18 January 2019
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
In the September 2018 Swedish general election, no single party or political bloc secured an outright majority in the Riksdag. The Red-Greens and the centre-right Alliance finished within one seat of each other, while the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats placed third, complicating any straightforward coalition arrangement.
Following the inconclusive election result, Sweden entered a period of protracted government formation negotiations. Multiple attempts were made to form a stable parliamentary majority, with the Riksdag speaker conducting speaker rounds to find a viable prime ministerial candidate acceptable to enough parties.
After more than four months of negotiations — one of the longest government formation processes in Swedish history — Stefan Löfven was re-elected as Prime Minister on 18 January 2019, heading a minority government supported by a cross-bloc agreement that included centre parties outside the traditional left-right blocs.