Sweden’s Prime Minister-elect Magdalena Andersson on
Wednesday handed in her resignation hours after being appointed by parliament
after her budget failed to pass and the junior Green Party quit the coalition
government.
While her stint was unexpectedly brief, Andersson made
history by becoming the first woman elected to the post of prime minister
in Sweden — she was to formally take over on Friday.
The 54-year-old economist who has served as finance
minister for the past seven years said she hoped to be elected to the position
again soon as the head of a minority government made up of only the Social
Democrats.
“There is a constitutional practice that a coalition
government should resign when one party quits,” Andersson, a Social Democrat,
told reporters.
“I don’t want to lead a government whose legitimacy
will be questioned.”
Just hours earlier, parliament had elected Andersson after she clinched a last-minute deal with the Left Party to raise pensions in exchange for its crucial backing in Wednesday’s vote in parliament.
But the small Centre Party then withdrew its support
for Andersson’s budget, due to the concessions made to the Left, leaving her
budget with insufficient votes to pass in parliament.
Lawmakers instead adopted an alternative budget
presented by the opposition conservative Moderates, Christian Democrats, and
far-right Sweden Democrats.
Andersson grudgingly said she would still be able to
govern with that budget.
But in an even heavier and surprise blow, Greens
leader Per Bolund said his party could not tolerate the opposition’s “historic
budget, drafted for the first time with the far-right”, and quit the
government.
Among other things, it could not accept the
opposition’s planned tax cut on petrol, which it said would lead to higher
emissions.