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Sweden Wednesday got its first ever female PM. Magdalena Andersson has been approved by Sweden’s parliament as the prime minister, replacing Stefan Lofven as leader of the centre-left Social Democrats.
Sweden never elected a woman as national leader before. Andersson, who’s currently finance minister, lost in votes. However, she was elected because under Swedish law she only needed a majority of MPs not to vote against her.
The 54-year-old Social Democrat leader was given a standing ovation by sections of the parliament, or Riksdag.
Andersson took over as leader of the Social Democrats from outgoing prime minister Stefan Lofven earlier this month, but needed support from outside the ruling minority coalition with the Greens to be confirmed as PM.
Left Party leader Nooshi Dadogostar had earlier said she had agreed to back Andersson as PM and the government’s budget after reaching a deal on higher pensions and health insurance.
Her election followed an 11th-hour deal with the opposition Left party, in exchange for higher pensions for many Swedes. Of the 349 members of the Riksdag, 174 voted against her. But on top of the 117 MPs who backed Andersson, a further 57 abstained from voting.
A former junior swimming champion from the university city of Uppsala, she began her political career in 1996 as political adviser to Prime Minister Goran Persson. However, she faces a tough job from the outset, with opposition parties on the right saying they’ll reject the government’s budget later.
The Swedish prime minister is the head of government in Sweden. Before the creation of the office of a prime minister in 1876, Sweden did not have a head of government separate from its head of state, namely the king, in whom the executive authority was vested.
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Unlike most prime ministers in parliamentary systems, the prime minister is both de jure and de facto chief executive. This is because the Instrument of Government explicitly vest executive power in the government, of which the prime minister is the leader.
