Magdalena Andersson who was elected as Sweden’s first Prime Minister has resigned just after seven-and-half hours in the office.
Magdalena Andersson decision to step down as PM was followed by her budget defeat. In a rare scenario, the government’s own budget was rejected and the opposition’s budget proposal was accepted in favour of 154-143 votes. The opposition includes the third-largest right-wing populist Sweden Democrats party. Andersson is the leader of the Social Democratic party. Before becoming Prime minister, Andersson was a finance minister.
In a news conference after her budget defeat, Andersson told –
For me, it is about respect, but I also do not want to lead a government where there may be grounds to question its legitimacy,
a coalition government should resign if a party chooses to leave the government. Despite the fact that the parliamentary situation is unchanged, it needs to be tried again.
However, Andersson informed parliamentary Speaker Andreas Norlen that she is still interested in leading the Social Democratic one-party government even after stepping down as the PM.
Green Party, which pulled out its support after the budget defeat in parliament said that it is prepared to stand behind Andersson in a new vote to elect a prime minister. Green Party spokesperson, Marta Stenevi said –
We have a united party behind us saying we can not sit in government that implements a policy (the Sweden Democrats) negotiated. We must look our voters in the eye and feel pride,
Sweden’s parliament constitutes of 349-seats. Earlier in the day, 117 lawmakers voted in favour of Andersson while 174 rejected her appointment as Prime minister. Meanwhile, 57 members abstained and 1 lawmaker was absent.
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Under the Swedish Constitution, PM can be named and govern as long as a parliamentary majority of 175 lawmakers minimum is not against them.
Sweden’s next general election is scheduled for Sept. 11.
Andersson replaced Stefan Lofven as party leader and PM, earlier this year.
What was the budget about?
The approved budget was based on the government’s own proposal. But the difference knocked when the government wanted to spend 74 billion kronor ($8.2 billion) on reforms. This amount is just over 20 billion kronor ($2.2 billion) that will be redistributed next year.
The approved budget also aims at reducing taxes, increasing salaries for police officers and spending more money on different sectors of Sweden’s judiciary system.