Historical Seven Hours in Sweden
As of November 30, Dagens Nyheter reported Sweden having a historical day in their politics, as they elected their first ever female prime minister. However, Magdalenda Andersson, replaced the former prime minister Stefan Lovfen in the Social Democratic Party, only to resign seven hours later, owing to the loss of a coalition partner, as well as failure to get her budget passed.
A budget put forth by opposing political parties got passed instead, leading to the Green's (Miljo Partiet) departure from the parliament, and also the last support Andersson needed to remain prime minister.
According to Politico, Magdalena issued these statements on the matter that same afternoon, "I have met the speaker of parliament and asked to be relieved of my position as prime minister," and, "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."
A former junior swimming champion from the University 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.
Christian Anneroth, a Stockholm based Swede, commented upon the issue the following afternoon, "It was quite a hectic day, I must say. Even though we were all thrilled for Magdalena and our country, it was a victory for democracy in the long run." Anneroth continued his comment with elaborating how Andersson could have easily remained prime minister for the moment, leading to more chaos, but she stepped down willingly, in accordance with democratic principles.
Anneroth continued saying, "And as I said, it was nice to see the first female prime minister ever, even if it only lasted seven hours, but I know that she can run again, however, so we will see what happens next, especially since the real election is next year."
Sweden's official election is starting next year (2022), and the current political left is facing strong opposition from the right, who also have promising female candidates, such as Ebba Busch Thor (KD).
