In Sweden, more than a month after the parliamentary elections, the formation of a new government has been further delayed.

The deadline for the leader of the middle-class moderates Ulf Kristersson expired on Wednesday without him being able to successfully conclude negotiations on a new government.

During a conversation on Wednesday, he asked Parliament Speaker Andreas Norlén for two more days for the negotiations.

Norlén granted Kristersson this extension and said that the plan for a new government had to be presented by 11 a.m. on Friday.

It is already the second longest-running government formation in Sweden in the past 100 years.

Matthias Wysuwa

Political correspondent for northern Germany and Scandinavia based in Hamburg.

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In the parliamentary elections on September 11, the middle-right camp around the moderates won a narrow majority of the 349 seats in the Reichstag with 176 seats.

Although the previous Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and her Social Democrats had clearly become the strongest force again, the centre-left camp together only had 173 seats.

Kristersson was commissioned by Norlén to form a new government. But this is made more difficult because Kristersson's moderates only got a good 19 percent of the vote and he will be dependent on the support of the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats in the future.

Right-wing populists as kingmakers

With a good 20 percent, they had risen to become the second strongest force in parliament.

Long shunned since they first entered parliament in 2010, the question now is what role they will play in a future alliance and what concessions will be made to them.

Kristersson could form a minority government with the Christian Democrats and perhaps the Liberals, and secure the support of the Sweden Democrats with an agreement, even if they do not become part of the government.

Kristersson said he was confident of being able to come to an agreement by Friday.

There are no major differences, he said, without going into details.

If he succeeds in forming a government, he is to be confirmed as the new prime minister in the Reichstag on Monday.