Sweden gets government four months after elections, Lofven remains prime minister

STOCKHOLM, (Patria) - Members of the Swedish Parliament have elected a minority center-left government led by Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, ending a four-month political stalemate in the country, during which Lofven served as prime minister in a caretaker capacity, AP reports.

153 MPs voted for Lofven's return to the prime minister's office, where he has been in power since 2014, while 115 voted against and 77 abstained, Al Jazeera reports.

Lofven was supported by his Social Democratic Workers' Party of Sweden and the Greens, while the center-right bloc of parties voted against his election, and three smaller parties abstained.

Lofven, a former welder and trade union leader, has pledged in an agreement to reduce taxes and deregulate the labor and real estate markets, a sharp rightward turn that will alienate many traditional supporters of the Social Democrats.

Politicians in Sweden have sought to form a government without the Sweden Democrats, a party AP states has neo-Nazi roots, and which came in third in the parliamentary elections held on September 9 last year.