STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's parliament will vote next week on whether centre-right Moderate Party leader Ulf Kristersson should be prime minister two months after an indecisive general election, but it remains doubtful whether he has enough backing from lawmakers.
After months of political deadlock the house speaker said it was time for parliament to vote on a candidate after both Kristersson and caretaker Prime Minister Stefan Lofven were unable to hammer out a ruling coalition.
"Right now, there are absolutely no guarantees that Ulf Kristersson will be elected," Speaker Andreas Norlen told a news conference in parliament.
The vote will be held on Nov. 14.
Kristersson has already tried and failed in informal talks to persuade all four parties in his centre-right Alliance bloc to support him as prime minister. He also failed to get support for a smaller, right-wing government that would need support from the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats.
"The process has to go forward," Norlen told reporters.
The general election on Sept. 9 left the centre-left and centre-right blocs evenly balanced and the Sweden Democrats holding the balance of power.
Neither bloc has been willing to give the Sweden Democrats a say in policy due to their white supremacist roots.
Graphic - Swedish election scenarios: https://tmsnrt.rs/2p45tJh
(Reporting by Johan Sennero, Simon Johnson and Daniel Dickson; Editing by Niklas Pollard)