The chaos of the vote-counting process in the Riksdag means that all 349 members must now appear for votes.
The system meant that politicians from each bloc were counted out against each other, to maintain the majority conditions in the chamber. For example, if someone was sick or on a business trip. But when the Sweden Democrats (SD) threw in two counted-out members in April to win a vote, the system collapsed.
The tone has been harsh. But behind the scenes, the Moderates and the Social Democrats, as representatives of their respective blocs, have been in talks to try to resolve the issue.
The Moderates produced a proposal for an agreement that the Social Democrats thought looked good.
"It was a minor adjustment," says a source with insight.
This is what the agreement looked like
The rough idea is that each side would get ten equalizing seats. The Moderates and the Social Democrats would have been responsible for distributing them. Mavericks would not be included in the system. If someone broke the agreement, the sanction would be working to retake the current vote.
The Moderates wanted the agreement to apply from Monday's vote, when the Riksdag planned to vote on lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 13 for serious crimes. The risk, as the Tidö parties saw it, was that a handful of Liberals would reject the proposal. They could then have been counted out and not voted.
But the opposition would have requested a ban on offsetting, meaning that all members must appear, which would have led to difficulties for the Tidö parties.
"All parties on our side agreed that there would be a ban on offsetting for Monday," says the source.
The system collapses
M said it was an afterthought.
"We were ready. But then they came up with something at the last minute. They couldn't sign the agreement because the Left Party is demanding a ban on offsetting on Monday. I note that they are saying the entire opposition now," says a source within the Tidö parties.
The agreement fell through and now there are no more meetings planned between the two sides. The offsetting system will likely be out of action at least until the election.
"The party that ends up in opposition will not be as inclined to find an agreement. My assessment is that we may not have a settlement agreement for the entire next term, but maybe only for half of it," says the Tidö source.
