SWEDEN’S Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson handed in her resignation hours after being appointed by Parliament yesterday, after her budget failed to pass and the junior Green Party quit the coalition government.

Andersson made history by becoming the first woman elected to the post of prime minister in Sweden – she was to formally take over tomorrow – despite her unexpectedly brief stint.

The 54-year-old economist, who has served as finance minister for the past seven years, said she hopes to be elected to the position again as the head of a minority government made up of only the Social Democrats.

“There is a constitutional practice that a coalition government should resign when one party quits,” Andersson, a Social Democrat, told reporters.

“I do not want to lead a government whose legitimacy will be questioned.”

Just hours earlier, Parliament had elected her after she clinched a last-minute deal with the Left Party to raise pensions in exchange for its crucial backing in a vote yesterday.

But the Centre Party withdrew its support for her budget, due to the concessions made to the Left, leaving her budget with insufficient votes to pass in Parliament.

Instead, lawmakers adopted an alternative budget presented by opposition conservative Moderates, Christian Democrats and far-right Sweden Democrats.

Andersson had grudgingly said she will still be able to govern with that budget.

But in an even heavier and surprise blow, Greens leader Per Bolund said his party cannot tolerate the opposition’s “historic budget, drafted for the first time with the far-right”, and quit the government.

Among other things, it cannot accept the opposition’s planned tax cut on petrol, which it said will lead to higher emissions.

‘A special day’

Parliament Speaker Andreas Norlen said he has accepted Andersson’s resignation and will contact party leaders before deciding how to proceed today.

Sweden’s largest daily Dagens Nyheter in an editorial said the turn of events can end up beneficial for Andersson, whom the Greens have vowed to support in a new prime ministerial vote.

“The Social Democrats can have all the cabinet posts and avoid all the compromises with the Greens.”

Despite being a nation that has long championed gender equality, Sweden has never before had a woman as prime minister.

After her election, Andersson called it “a special day”, coming 100 years after the Scandinavian country allowed female suffrage.

All other Nordic countries – Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland – have seen women lead their governments.

Andersson took over as leader of the Social Democrats from Stefan Lofven earlier this month.

Lofven resigned as prime minister on November 10, after seven years in power, in a widely expected move designed to give his successor time to prepare for the general election in September next year.

The change in leadership comes as the party hovers close to their lowest-ever approval ratings with elections less than a year away.

Meanwhile, the right-wing opposition, led by the conservative Moderates, has inched closer to the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats in recent years, and hopes to govern with its informal backing. – AFP, November 25, 2021.