The open letter to Thand Ringqvist comes as Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson could be next in line to receive the mandate to try to form a government, after S leader Magdalena Andersson’s failure.
Sweden cannot afford a political deadlock that is “allowed to continue indefinitely,” Åkesson believes.
“It is against this background that I now turn directly to you. With this letter, I would like to invite you to a meeting and an unconditional conversation about the parliamentary situation and the deadlocks that obviously exist. Not least between our respective parties,” he writes.
“No obstacle to conversation”
The Center Party has a red line against cooperating with a government that includes the SD. Åkesson emphasizes that his invitation does not mean the SD is abandoning its position of “being in a government or being in opposition.”
“However, this stance does not constitute an obstacle to conversation. It never has,” Åkesson writes, continuing:
“Elisabeth, we do not need to agree on Sweden’s political path to be able to talk to each other about Sweden’s parliamentary situation. On the contrary, it is perhaps precisely when the contradictions are greatest that the need to meet is most evident,” he writes.
Press conference on Monday
On Monday, Speaker of the Riksdag Andreas Norlén will hold a press conference about the next steps in efforts to form a government.
The Center Party went into the election with Magdalena Andersson as its prime ministerial candidate, but hopes for a “government of the center” together with the Social Democrats, which could also include the Green Party, the Liberals and the Christian Democrats.
Recently, Thand Ringqvist also took a sauna with KD leader Ebba Busch. It is unclear what this might lead to politically.
TT has been in contact with the Center Party, which declined to comment.