The speaker of the Swedish parliament on Tuesday asked the leader of the conservative Moderates party to try to form a government, a major challenge in the country's fragmented political landscape.
"I've decided to give Ulf Kristersson the mandate to try and form a government that is tolerated by the parliament," Andreas Norlen told a news conference in Stockholm.
"He will have to report this mission to me in two weeks, with a milestone in a week," Norlen added.
The September 9 elections, held after four years of centre-left rule, led to neither main political bloc winning a majority, making it difficult to build a stable coalition.
Outgoing prime minister Stefan Lofven's Social Democrats remained the nation's largest party and its red-green coalition won one more seat than the centre-right bloc.
But Lofven was ousted by parliament last week in a vote of no confidence by the centre-right bloc and the far-right Sweden Democrats.
The vote leaves Moderates leader Ulf Kristersson in the driving seat of negotiations as he tries to get his party, the second largest in parliament and a member of the centre-right four party Alliance, into government.
"I'm a speaker of the parliament, not a magician," Norlen warned, ahead of Kristersson's daunting task.
Sweden has a system of "negative parliamentarism", meaning it is possible for a cabinet to govern without majority support as long as a majority of lawmakers is not against it.
Meanwhile Lofven has reiterated that the Social Democrats, who declared victory in the election, will not function as a "junior party" to a right-wing government.
The Sweden Democrats, a nationalist and anti-immigration party which won more than 17 percent of the votes, has demanded influence over policies in exchange for support.
The leaders of the Centre party and the Liberals -- members of the Alliance -- have so far rejected any cooperation with the Sweden Democrats.
Kristersson has also, so far, ruled out appealing for far-right support despite mounting pressure from within the Moderates.
"If everyone remains stuck in their occupied positions then we'll never have a government," he said, calling on all parties to act responsibly.
"I will first speak with the Alliance but also with the Social Democrats and Stefan Lofven."
