Magdalena Andersson: Sweden's first female PM returns after resignation
Sweden's first female prime minister has been reappointed to the top job after political turmoil forced her to resign within hours of taking the post last week.
MPs backed Social Democratic Party leader Magdalena
Andersson by a narrow margin in a new vote on Monday.
She will attempt to lead a one-party government until an
election in September next year.
She stood down as prime minister last Thursday after her
coalition collapsed.
Just hours earlier, Ms Andersson had been elected as
Sweden's first female prime minister by a single vote in parliament.
But the 54-year-old economist's plan for forming a new coalition
government with the Green Party was thrown into disarray when her budget
proposal failed to pass.
Instead, parliament voted for a budget drawn up by a group
of opposition parties, including the far-right Sweden Democrats.
The Green Party said it would not accept a budget drafted by
the far-right and walked away from the government, leading to its demise.
By convention, the prime minister in Sweden is expected to
resign if a coalition party leaves government.
In Monday's vote, 101 of the Riksdag's 349 members voted
yes, 75 abstained and 173 voted no, according to Swedish broadcaster SVT.
To be appointed prime minister under Sweden's political
system, a candidate only needs to avoid a majority voting against them.
Once formed, Ms Andersson's new government will remain in
place until general elections, which are set to take place in September next
year.
A former junior swimming champion from the university city
of Uppsala, she began her political career in 1996 as political adviser to
then-Prime Minister Goran Persson.
She has spent the past seven years as finance minister
before becoming leader of the Social Democrats at the start of November.
She replaced Stefan Lofven, who resigned as prime minister
after seven years in power.
Until Ms Andersson took over, Mr Lofven had remained prime
minister of a caretaker government after being ousted in an unprecedented vote
of no confidence in June.
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