Sweden’s first female prime minister and Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson resigned less than 12 hours after her alliance collapsed, putting the country into further political uncertainty.
Anderson said that the Green Party, a small party in the coalition, decided to withdraw, forcing her to resign. She added that she had told the speaker that she hoped to be appointed as prime minister again as the head of a one-party government.
The Green Party said it will leave the government after the coalition’s budget bill is rejected by Parliament.
Anderson said at a press conference: “I have asked the Speaker to remove my prime minister.” “I am ready to serve as prime minister in a single-party Social Democratic government.”
In a series of turbulent events, Anderson became the first woman to be elected Prime Minister of Sweden earlier in the day after reaching a last-minute agreement with a left-wing party to increase pensions in exchange for support in Wednesday’s vote.
However, due to concessions to the left, the small center party withdrew its support for the Anderson budget, resulting in insufficient votes for the budget to be passed in Parliament.
Parliament subsequently approved alternative budgets proposed by the opposition conservative moderates, the Christian Democrats and the far-right Sweden Democrats.
The fatal blow came when Per Bolund, the leader of the Green Party, stated that his party could not tolerate the opposition’s “historical budget, which was drafted by the extreme right for the first time” and withdrew from the government. The Green Party stated that, among other things, the planned gasoline tax cut will lead to increased emissions.
This left Andersson, who took over as prime minister from Stefan Löfven, as the head of a minority coalition supported by left and center parties, and had no choice but to submit his resignation.
The Speaker will now decide the next step in the search for a new government.
Anderson told reporters: “The Constitution stipulates that when a political party withdraws, the coalition government should resign.” “I don’t want to lead a government whose legitimacy will be questioned.”
Speaker Andreas Nolen said that he has accepted Anderson’s resignation and will contact party leaders before deciding how to proceed.
Reuters and AFP contributed to this report
