Swedish parliament, for the second time in less than a week, elected Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson as the new Prime Minister on Monday, leaving the country's first female premier to navigate a fragmented and fraught political landscape.
The former finance minister won a similar vote last week but threw in the towel only hours later after a junior coalition partner abandoned the government over a lost budget vote. The surprise move from the Green Party was made in protest against the adoption of an alternative budget proposal drafted with the involvement of the far-right populist Sweden Democrats, which the Greens considered a red line.
The Social Democratic party is Sweden’s third-largest party which is rooted in a neo-Nazi movement. The vote was 154 to 143 in favor of the opposition’s budget proposal, according to the data released by Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The 54-year-old, who is also the outgoing finance minister, will now head a minority government consisting solely of the Social Democrats, with 10 months to go before the September general elections. She is due to formally take over the post on Tuesday, succeeding outgoing Prime Minister Stefan Lofven after seven years in power. A total of 101 members of parliament voted for Andersson, while 75 abstained and 173 voted against.
Under Sweden's system, a prime ministerial candidate does not need the support of a majority in parliament; they just need to avoid a majority voting against them. Andersson now faces a challenging period in the run-up to the election.
The Social Democrats hold 100 seats in the 349-seat parliament and will have to rely on support from several other parties to implement any policy. Not since 1979 has a government commanded so little direct support in parliament.
The four opposition parties on the center and right are united on most issues and control 174 seats in parliament, while the four parties on the left and center, which hold 175 seats, are more splintered.
Observers predict the election will be a close race, with crime and immigration topping voters' concerns, as Reuters reported.
Complicating the picture, Andersson will have to govern on a budget in part formulated by three opposition parties, including the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, whose gains over the past decade lie at the heart of Sweden's political turmoil. Her tenuous hold on power is due to a deadlocked parliament where neither the center-left nor the center-right can prove a majority.
