The Swedish Parliament elected the Social Democrat Magdalena Andersson as Prime Minister on Monday, five days after she was also voted and resigned a few hours later for the exit of the government of the Greens, their coalition partners. Andersson, first woman to rule Sweden, received 101 votes in favor, 173 against and 75 abstentions, thus fulfilling the condition established in the Swedish system to be elected prime minister: not having the majority of the House against, set at 175 seats.
Sweden has been experiencing a situation of political instability for years due to the “sanitary cordon” of several far-right parties, which has allowed a minority red-green Executive to rule this Scandinavian country since 2014. Barring a last minute surprise, this election closes the transition of social democratic power after the departure of Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, who left office at the beginning of the month and less than a year before the September 2022 legislative elections.
Leading a one-party government
“Like all minority governments, we will seek the cooperation of other parties in Parliament. I see opportunities for this,” Andersson said minutes after being elected, adding: “We have a long tradition of collaborating and we are ready to do what it takes to move Sweden forward.” The elected Swedish prime minister, who will govern with 25 percent of the seats in Parliament, will present her new government this Tuesday and will later meet with King Carlos XVI Gustavo in the Council of State.
“Last Wednesday was a great day, and it was a great day today.”declared the new prime minister. “This time I was perhaps more prepared to be moved”he joked at a press conference. Last Wednesday, at the end of an unlikely parliamentary day, Andersson was elected prime minister, then failed to approve her budgets and ended up resigning after the withdrawal of support from environmentalists.
Due to the departure of the Greens, the new prime minister will lead a totally social democratic government. “Now Andersson will be in charge of a one-party government. There will be no more surprises. No more crisis, at least for now.”, assured Anders Sannerstedt, Professor of Political Science at Lund University, for whom last week’s episode was “historic”.
Sweden, although it is a country used to complicated situations in Parliament and more since 2018, had never experienced anything like it. This Monday, the environmentalists abstained in the parliamentary vote. And, unlike what happened last week when Andersson was appointed by a vote of difference, this time a deputy from the Liberal party abstained, reducing the votes against her from 174 to 173.
Close elections on the horizon
Since the office was created in 1876, Sweden has never had a woman as its prime minister., unlike the rest of the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Iceland). After the events of last Wednesday, no one doubted Andersson’s re-election: the three parties essential for him to occupy the post had already announced that they would allow his election.
The succession to the head of the country occurs less than a year before the legislative elections of September 2022, which are announced to be close. According to the polls, the social democratic party would get about 25 percent of the vote, and it would continue to be the first political formation in the country, but it is close to its lowest levels.
He will have to face his great rival, the conservative party of the Moderates, led by Ulf Kristersson, who has recently reached out to the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD), a party that opposes migration. This force, born the previous decade from an openly Nazi group, has been moderating without abandoning its xenophobic tinge to become the third in percentage of votes.
Kristersson has been willing to govern with the support of the far right in Parliament, which would mean a turnaround in the Swedish political scene. It was precisely the fact that a right-wing budget was approved, prepared for the first time with the SD, which led to the withdrawal of environmentalists and the consequent resignation of Andersson. For environmentalists, it was impossible to govern with budgets in which the extreme right had participated.
A new rent regime promoted by the centrists led to a socialist motion of no confidence in June against Löfven, the first sitting head of government overthrown by Parliament, although he returned two weeks later when the proposal was withdrawn. Löfven unexpectedly announced in August that he would leave all his positions to pave the way for his successor in the face of the September legislatures, and the Socialists already conditioned their support to an agreement, which caused the discomfort of the centrists and was a notice of what then happened.
In the last two years, the generalized isolation of the SD has been cracking, with conservatives and Christian Democrats at the head, going from the first exploratory contacts to now negotiating budgets with the extreme right, although they insist that this force will not be part of any hypothetical government.
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