Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven will have to stand down after losing the support of parliament.

The anti-immigration Sweden Democrats (SD) backed the vote to remove him, weeks after a general election that delivered a hung parliament.

In Tuesday's dramatic vote, 204 MPs voted against Mr Lofven while 142 voted in favour.

Parliament's speaker will now propose a new leader - a process that could take weeks.

Mr Lofven is expected to stay on as caretaker prime minister while his replacement is decided.

Mr Lofven, the leader of the centre-left Social Democrats, came to power in 2014. His centre-left alliance won 144 seats in this month's election, one more than the centre-right opposition.
Neither of the main blocs intends to govern with the nationalist SD, the third-largest party in the new parliament.

Speaking after the vote, Mr Lofven, who is still the leader of the largest party, said he intended to work to form another government across the political divide.

"I see good opportunities to continue as prime minister," he said.

Mr Lofven said he did not believe that fresh elections were something voters wanted - but he said he would never support a government that relied on the SD.

BBC Online

BDST: 1639 HRS, SEPT 25, 2018
SI