In Stockholm, the leader of the Swedish Social Democrats, Magdalena Andersson, has on Wednesday, November 24, become the first woman to be elected the as the Prime Minister of Sweden. In the fragmented Riksdagen, however, she received fragile support, Swedish news portal TheLocal.se reports.
In the Nordic country, prime ministerial candidates need to gain negative support, meaning that no more than 174 legislators vote against the candidate. The abstentions of the Centre Party and Left Party, and support of the Green Party and her own Social Democrats, brought Andersson to the magic 174 mandates – exactly the same as the number of right-wing members of parliament who voted against the current Finance Minister.
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The politician is now set to formally take over the prime ministerial reins from fellow Social Democrat Stefan Löfven after a meeting with King Carl XVI Gustaf on Friday, November 26. She will have nine months to prepare for Sweden’s 2022 general election.
As to the political priorities of Andersson, she has pledged to end segregation, as well as the shootings and bombings that have plagued the country in recent years, which mainly affecting disadvantaged neighbourhoods with large immigrant populations. Other objectives include making Sweden a worldwide role model in climate transition and «take back democratic control of schools, healthcare and elderly care», TheLocal.se reports.