It was an autumn filled with coffee breaks for Andreas Norlén, the newly elected Speaker after the 2018 election.
While the focus at first, somewhat jokingly, was on what kind of coffee the party leaders were offered during the Speaker's rounds, it was also clear early on that forming a government would take time.
Finally, after the so-called January Agreement between S, MP, C and L, Stefan Löfven was elected Prime Minister again - and took office 134 days after the election.
Andreas Norlén believes there are important lessons to be learned from this, regardless of whether he himself is re-elected as Speaker on September 28 or not.
One of them is that it became an unfortunate situation when the Riksdag accepted a prime minister but not that prime minister's policies, especially in the form of the budget, he says.
You need to see the prime minister issue and the content of the policy together, so that they do not become disconnected from each other as they did on certain occasions in 2018-2022.
“Shorter deadlines”
However, Andreas Norlén also believes that the formation of the government needs to proceed faster than it did in 2018, even though this year's mandate distribution looks to be almost as even as then.
The advice to the new Speaker - regardless of who it will be - is to put a little more pressure on the parties.
Yes, from a Speaker's perspective, it can be stated that there may be reasons to work with shorter deadlines than I did at the beginning of the process, says Andreas Norlén.
At the same time, one must not set such strict deadlines that it hampers ongoing negotiations.
“Take a stand then”
While waiting for the Riksdag to convene on September 28, the ball is in the court of current Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M), notes Andreas Norlén.
It is also on September 28 that his own future will be decided - whether there will be re-election as Speaker or a return to a parliamentary seat for the Moderates.
It is the parties that nominate candidates for the post of Speaker. I have said that if someone asks me if I want to run again, I will decide on that then. But right now I am waiting on that issue, he says.
