Sweden's Social Democrats Tap Finance Minister To Succeed PM Lofven

Sweden's ruling Social Democrats said Wednesday they were nominating finance minister Magdalena Andersson to lead the party after Stefan Lofven steps down, making her the frontrunner to become Sweden's first female prime minister

Stockholm, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Sep, 2021 ) :Sweden's ruling Social Democrats said Wednesday they were nominating finance minister Magdalena Andersson to lead the party after Stefan Lofven steps down, making her the frontrunner to become Sweden's first female prime minister.

In late August, Lofven announced that he would step down as party leader at the party's congress in November.

He also said he would resign as prime minister, following a tumultuous summer that saw him reinstated in the top job just weeks after being ousted in a historic vote of no confidence.

On Tuesday, the Social Democrats' nomination committee announced that all the party's regional districts had put forward Andersson as their pick for the next party leader.

"Of course I am very honoured," Andersson told a press conference as she accepted the nomination.

"Magdalena is a person that calls it like it is and does what is necessary," Elvy Soderstrom, head of the nomination committee, told reporters.

While Andersson, who has been finance minister since 2014, must be confirmed by the party congress, held between November 3 and November 7, she is currently the sole candidate.

Then parliament would need to install her in Lofven's place as Prime Minister -- not a given in view of his own rocky path to the top.

The former welder and union leader has led a weak minority government together with the Greens Party for the past three years, struggling to find a workable coalition following inconclusive elections in September 2018.

But divisions within the opposition saw the Social Democrats quickly return to power, even after the government was toppled by a vote of no confidence in June of this year.

Under the Swedish system, a prime minister must simply be "tolerated" by parliament -- meaning Andersson can secure the office so long as a majority does not vote against her.

Despite its renown as a bastion of gender equality, Sweden has yet to see a woman as head of government, giving Andersson the chance to become the first.

The 54-year-old hails from the city of Uppsala, just north of Stockholm, and was an elite swimmer in her youth before studying at the Stockholm school of Economics.

Should Andersson be tolerated by Sweden's parliament, allowing her to form a new government, one of her first challenges will be to get a budget through the deadlocked chamber.