Sweden’s moderate MP Andreas Norlén is expected to take the post of second deputy speaker in the country’s parliament.
The Green Party has said it will reject the far-right Sweden Democrat candidate for the post, Björn Söder, and vote for the Left party’s Lotte Johnsson Fornarve as second deputy speaker.
As reported by The Local, the environmentalist group has also said it will vote for Social Democrat Åsa Lindestam as speaker, even though Norlén is expected to win that vote after the Sweden Democrats confirmed their support.
Usually, the speaker is a member of Sweden’s largest political party or bloc, meaning that after the September 9 election, a Social Democrat candidate would have been expected.
The far-right Sweden Democrats (SD) party won 62 seats in the election, while the left and right of centre ‘blocs’ – party alliances led by the Social Democrats and Moderates – won 144 and 143 of the total 349 seats respectively in the parliament, reported The Local.
“We do not want the Sweden Democrats to influence the formation of government and think it’s regrettable that the conservative parties did not want to have a conversation and reach agreement over a (speaker) candidate with broad support,” Green parliamentary group leader Maria Ferm told TT.
Although the votes of the Left and Green parties, who have 28 and 16 seats respectively, are not enough for Fornarve to be confirmed, the ‘Alliance’ bloc of conservative parties has said it will abstain from the vote over the second deputy speaker, enabling the Left candidate to be confirmed provided the Social Democrats also vote in her favour.
