Sweden parliament rejects Centre leader as prime minister, as expected

STOCKHOLM, Nov 3 - Swedish lawmakers on Tuesday rejected Centre Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist as prime minister, as widely expected, amid a post-election gridlock in the Nordic country.Parliament's speaker has already said Moderate party leader Ulf Kristersson, the prime minister of a right-wing government since 2022, will be next in line to try to form a cabinet.• The September election gave the centre-left opposition parties a majority 176 of 349 seats in parliament, but while all four parties favour Social Democrats leader Magdalena Andersson as prime minister, they do not agree on who should be part of a new government• Thand Ringqvist, whose party is parliament's fifth-biggest, last week abandoned an attempt to forge a centrist coalition, and has said she does not aspire to be prime minister in the next government• Lawmakers on October 15 rejected a bid by Andersson to form a minority Social Democrat cabinet, as widely expected. Tuesday's vote over Thand Ringqvist was the second of four ballots before a new election must be called• There is little indication so far that Kristersson, whose party is the second-biggest after the Social Democrats, would be able to secure a majority, and the task of government formation could thus revert to Andersson at a later time• Recent opinion polls indicate that support for the Moderates has increased since the election REUTERS