Magdalena Andersson, Sweden’s first female prime minister, resigned on Wednesday after her coalition partner, the Greens, departed the two-party minority government after suffering a budget loss in parliament.
The government’s budget plan was defeated in favour of one put up by the opposition, which included the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats. The neo-Nazi movement is at the heart of Sweden’s third-largest political party. The opposition’s budget plan received a 154-143 vote in favour.
Andersson, the head of the Social Democratic Party, opted to resign from her position more than seven hours after becoming the country’s first female president.
“It’s about respect for me, but I also don’t want to lead a government where its legitimacy is called into question,” Andersson said during a press conference.
Andersson, who served as finance minister before briefly becoming prime minister, told legislative Speaker Andreas Norlen that she is still willing to run a one-party Social Democratic administration.
Norlen, the 349-seat parliament’s speaker, said he will call Sweden’s eight political party leaders “to address the issue.” He’ll reveal the path ahead on Thursday.
“A coalition government should resign if a party chooses to quit the government,” Andersson added. It needs to be tried again, notwithstanding the fact that the parliamentary position remains unchanged. Despite withdrawing its support for her administration, the Green Party says it is ready to back Andersson in a new vote to choose a prime minister.
The Greens, on the other hand, argued it was in the party’s best interests to withdraw support for her following the budget failure in parliament.
Andersson’s nomination as prime minister was a watershed moment for Sweden, which had long been regarded as one of Europe’s most progressive countries in terms of gender relations but had yet to have a female prime leader.
Andersson was chosen to take over as party leader and prime minister from Stefan Lofven, who stepped down earlier this year.
Source: CP24
