Mr Speaker, members of parliament, everyone watching from home. We find ourselves in this difficult situation today because obstinacy and arrogance have been placed above the stability of the country and the need for compromise. I find this lamentable. We all deserve a better political system. The Left Party has conceded more than any other party in the last couple of years. When the current government was formed in January 2019, it based its rule on the support of five parties: the Social Democrats, the Green Party, the Center Party, the Liberals, and the Left Party. Four of these parties made an agreement to shut the fifth one — the Left Party — out of all negotiations.

So, more than half a million voters who cast their ballot for our party were not present at the negotiating table as the seventy-three points called the January agreement were worked out. All this was done despite the fact that our parliamentary support was needed if the government would be able to rule, and thus for that very agreement to come into effect. Despite these exceedingly harsh conditions, the Left Party decided to enter a confidence-and-supply agreement to allow for Stefan Löfven to form a government. It was not an easy decision for us, but in difficult political situations one has to be able to compromise.