First female Swedish prime minister elected again after resignation

Magdalena Andersson has been elected for a second time as Sweden’s first female prime minister, just days after she resigned from the position, according to CNN.

Andersson was forced to resign last week after less than eight hours as Sweden’s leader when she failed to receive the majority backing for next year’s budget. 

Andersson’s resignation was compulsory, but she immediately said she still intended to retake the position in a second round of votes, as she did on Monday.

“We will break the segregation and push back the violence, create the green jobs of the future by leading the way in climate change and regaining control of welfare. Led by Magdalena Andersson — our Prime Minister!” Andersson’s party, the Swedish Social Democrats, tweeted after the vote. 

Andersson, a former finance minister, now intends to rule with a minority government composed of her own Social Democratic Party, which holds 100 seats in the country’s 349-seat parliament, reports CNN. 

The new prime minister is set to meet with the Swedish king Tuesday, a stage in the process she did not previously reach. 

During the latest round of voting, 101 MPs in the Swedish parliament voted for Andersson, 173 voted against and 75 abstained, narrowly clearing the bar that requires a majority voting against the prime minister to block her. 

Andersson is poised to replace Stefan Löfven and is preceded by 33 men in the position of Swedish prime minister.

Center Party Leader Annie Loof said in a speech to parliament that a female prime minister “means a lot to many girls and women, to see this glass ceiling shattered. I am proud that [the Center Party] is involved and makes this possible,” according to ABC News. 

Loof’s Center Party abstained from voting for or against Andersson, which allowed her to be elected. 

Sweden, one of the most progressive countries in Europe — particularly in regard to gender equality — was behind its Nordic neighbors when it came to having a female head of state, reports ABC. Denmark, Norway, Iceland and Finland have all had female heads of state.