STOCKHOLM, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Sweden's political left and right have until Friday to secure backing from the Centre Party in a bid to break weeks of deadlock following a tight election.
Both blocs support continued aid for Ukraine and higher defence spending, but the outcome could reshape Sweden's political landscape for years to come.
The centre-left, headed by Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson, won a slim majority in September's vote, but has been unable to agree on how to share power. Caretaker Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is meanwhile trying to build an alternative centre-right administration.
Amid the deadlock, the Centre Party last week issued an ultimatum to both leaders to show how they could govern without support from the political fringes. With that deadline expiring on Friday, the party is expected to choose a side in the coming days.
"It's a chicken race," Jonas Hinnfors, professor of political science at Gothenburg University said. "The stakes are high and whoever blinks first could lose."
OBSTACLES FOR BOTH BLOCS
Both blocs face challenges. Andersson must either persuade the Left Party to drop its demand for cabinet positions, or convince the Centre Party to abandon its opposition to a coalition involving Sweden's former communist party.
On Thursday, Centre leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist said she was ready to talk policy with Left Party leader Nooshi Dadgostar but not to compromise on keeping the party out of government.
"The Left Party has to drop its ultimatum ... and come back to the negotiating table," she said in a written comment to Reuters shortly after Dadgostar called on the Centre to formally rule out any deal involving the far right.
Kristersson, meanwhile, must convince the Centre Party that the Sweden Democrats, a party with roots in the neo-Nazi movement, would be kept out of government and denied meaningful influence. But without far-right votes, it's unclear how he could pass a budget.
If neither side succeeds, Sweden faces a fresh election within three months.
COMPETING VISIONS FOR SWEDEN
Andersson has pledged higher spending on healthcare and welfare, a fairer tax system and a faster green industrial transition. Kristersson's bloc favours income tax cuts and tougher law-and-order policies.
The political consequences could be profound. The Social Democrats suffered their worst election result and could struggle to regain power if they fail to form a government now.
"That the Social Democrats, Left and Green Party on their own would achieve a majority does not appear particularly realistic in the foreseeable future," Niklas Bolin of Mid Sweden University said.
At the same time, if the Centre Party breaks its promise not to work with the far right it could face a backlash from voters and its own lawmakers, making a centre-right coalition unstable.
(Reporting by Simon Johnson and Johan Ahlander; editing by Niklas Pollard and Ros Russell)
