The Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, has confirmed the appointment of left-wing Magdalena Andersson to become the country’s first female prime minister — but one coalition partner has expressed doubts about the new leader.
UPDATE 1545 — Just Hours After Selecting New Prime Minister, Failed Budget Vote Plunges Government Into Chaos
Newly appointed Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson has lost her first major vote as Prime Minister just hours after her appointment, losing a crucial budget vote, with the proposed right-wing party opposition budget winning 154 votes in favour and 143 opposed.
Breitbart London reported earlier, the loss in the vote could see the Social Democrat’s coalition partner the Greens withdraw from the government, as they would refuse to implement the opposition’s budget, saying they would not wield “power for power’s sake”.
Read more at Breitbart London’s report on the budget vote.
Read the original story below:
Ms Andersson, leader of the Social Democrats, became Sweden’s 34th Prime Minister on Wednesday morning, replacing outgoing migrant-crisis era leader of the Social Democrat Stefan Löfven. The selection came despite considerably more members of the nation’s parliament (Riksdag) voting against her appointment, than in favour.
The Swedish constitution merely requires that a majority of lawmakers do not vote against the candidate, meaning a potential Prime Minister can’t have 175 or more votes against in the house of 349 members. In the incredibly close result, 174 voted against her, missing the target by just one vote. 57 lawmakers abstained and one was not present at the vote, Associated Press reports.
In comparison, just 117 voted in favour of Andersson’s appointment, one-third of the Riksdag’s members.
“I am ready to lead a government that does what is necessary,” Andersson said at a press conference following the vote and added, “I have been voted Sweden’s first female prime minister and know what it means for girls in our country,” broadcaster SVT reports.
A former Finance Minister, Andersson will become the latest female lead of a Scandinavian country. Denmark and Finland both currently have female Prime Ministers as well.
Having only just survived her own confirmation vote, Prime Minister Andersson begins her term as Prime Minister facing a budget vote later today which could easily result in a defeat and even trigger another contest to select a new Prime Minister.
The Swedish Centre Party, which has largely supported the Red-Green left-wing coalition so far, have said they will not give votes to the government at the budget vote, and would in fact be backing an alternative ‘opposition budget’.
The Green party are now asking, with a potential defeat on the budget just hours away, whether it is even worth continuing to support the government as coalition partners at all, as without their budget passing Parliament, their left-wing, Green political programmes won’t be funded.
Per Bolund, the spokesman for the Greens said that the party was waiting to see the outcome of the new budget vote before they make a decision.
“We now need to think seriously about the conditions for enforcing green policies. And we do not have government power for its own sake, but we have it to enforce green policies,” Bolund said.
Political scientist Magnus Isberg told SVT that if the Greens decide to leave the government it could lead to yet another vote for a new Prime Minister.
“When the Speaker nominated Magdalena Andersson, he said at the same time that she would form a government consisting of the Social Democrats and the Greens. The vote took place on the condition that this would be the case,” Isberg said.
The appointment of Andersson comes after former Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven announced his retirement as leader of the government earlier this year in August.
The Löfven era, which began in 2014, has been marked by a surge in gun violence, particularly fatal gun violence linked to gang crime, as well as the 2015 migrant crisis that saw Sweden take in the largest number of migrants per capita in Europe.
High cases of unemployment among migrants who arrived in 2015, and migrants more broadly, will be a significant challenge for Prime Minister Andersson as Sweden’s general unemployment has become one of the highest in Europe.