Swedish Social Democrats Party leader and newly appointed Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson resigned after the budget vote in the Swedish parliament in Stockholm on Wednesday. Photo by Pontus Lundahl/EPA-EFE/
Nov. 24 (UPI) — Sweden’s first woman prime minster resigned within hours of being appointed the leader of the Scandinavian country after being handed a budget defeat in parliament causing the Greens Party to leave the minority coalition government.
Magdalena Andersson, 54, was announced Sweden’s first woman prime minister on Wednesday, succeeding Stefan Lofven as both the leader of the country and the head of the Social Democrats Party, Sweden’s official Twitter account said.
However, Andersson resigned within hours after parliament voted in favor of the opposition’s budget proposal, which resulted in the Greens Party exiting the minority coalition government it had with Andersson’s Social Democrats.
“There is a constitutional practice that a coalition government should resign when one party quits,” she told reporters during a press conference, The Local reported. “I don’t want to lead a government whose legitimacy will be questioned.”
Andersson was elected prime minister earlier that morning by parliament and was to formally assume the position Friday once meeting King Carl XVI Gustaf.
Not long later, however, parliament voted 154-143 in favor of the budget proposal of the opposition, EuroNews reported.
Greens Party spokesperson Marta Stenevi then announced their resignation from the government, stating “we can not sit in a government that implements a policy [the Sweden Democrats] negotiated.”
“We must look our voters in the eye and feel pride,” Stenevi said.
The country’s Twitter account said the current government will remain in power in the interim until a new government is in place.
Andersson, who has served as the minister for finance since 2014, added that she hopes to be elected prime minister again as the leader of the Social Democrats-only minority government.
Despite pulling its support for the coalition government, the Greens Party said it will support Andersson in the upcoming prime minister vote.