STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - After months of haggling, Sweden took a big step towards a new government on Tuesday as the Centre Party leader said she would consider accepting Social Democrat Stefan Lofven as prime minister if demands, including lower taxes, were met.
Swedes delivered a hung parliament in the Sept. 9 election with neither the centre-left or the centre-right able to form a majority and the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats holding the balance of power.
Sweden's political landscape has been dominated by left and right bloc politics for decades. The Centre Party campaigned on dethroning Lofven and if they let him through it would signal a major shift in Swedish politics.
"If they accept our demands, we are willing to consider tolerating Stefan Lofven in next week's prime ministerial vote," Centre Party leader Annie Loof told Dagens Nyheter newspaper.
"Specifically, these may include greatly reduced marginal taxes, reformed workplace priority rules, more liberal labour laws and freer housing rental rules," she said but ruled out her party joining a Social Democratic-led government.
The centre-right Moderates and Christian Democrats tried to form a government earlier this month with support from Alliance partners the Centre Party and the Liberals, but got turned down as such a government would also rely on support from the Sweden Democrats.
Loof was not immediately available for comment.
GRAPHIC - Election scenarios: https://tmsnrt.rs/2p45tJh
(Reporting by Daniel Dickson and Johan Ahlander)