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Magdalena Andersson gets second shot at becoming Sweden's next prime minister

The Local Sweden
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Magdalena Andersson gets second shot at becoming Sweden's next prime minister
Prime minister candidate Magdalena Andersson. Photo: Jessica Gow/TT

Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson will get another chance to become Sweden's first female prime minister, after the speaker of parliament said he would nominate her for the office a second time.

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The Swedish parliament is now set to again vote on Andersson as prime minister on Monday.

Speaker Andreas Norlén made the announcement on Thursday afternoon after having met with the leaders of Sweden’s eight parties.

He said he would re-nominate Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson, who resigned on Wednesday just hours after having been confirmed by parliament as the country’s next prime minister.

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EXPLAINED:

Andersson's resignation was sparked by the junior Green Party choosing to quit the government coalition after parliament passed a right-wing opposition budget with amendments co-authored by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats.

The usually cautiously soft-spoken Norlén criticised the Green Party on Thursday for not informing him in advance that they were planning to quit the government if the left-wing coalition's budget failed, before he nominated Andersson as prime minister the first time around.

"In that case I obviously would not have nominated Magdalena Andersson on Monday. I would have waited until after the budget vote," he told a press conference. He said that the fact that a government had to resign hours after being elected "risked damaging trust" in Sweden's political system, but stopped short of criticising Andersson, saying that the Green Party's decision had seemed to come as a surprise to her, too.

Andersson is expected to be re-elected, with the Centre Party, Left Party and Green Party confirming they will approve (or accept, as a prime ministerial vote needs no more than a majority of abstentions) her nomination just like they did the first time.

Her minority government is then expected to be a one-party cabinet made up of only Social Democrat ministers.

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