Elected PM twice in a week: The strange case of Magdalena Andersson

This incident sounds like a Hindi movie, but it’s very real, and it happened recently in Sweden. The country’s first ever woman Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson resigned 7 hours after she was appointed in the third week of November 2021. But before the month got over, she was re-elected and became PM for the second time in less than 7 days! That is why they say ‘truth is stranger than fiction’.  

Who is Magdalena Andersson? 
Magdalena Andersson is the 54-year-old female leader of the Social Democratic Party of Sweden. She began her political career as an adviser to a PM in 1996, going on to become the Director of Planning for him. In 2004, Andersson was appointed State Secretary for the Ministry of Finance. She continued successfully holding various government and party roles dealing with finance till she got elected as Finance Minister in 2014 for the Social Democratic Party.  

How did Magdalena Andersson become PM twice?   
Andersson became the head of the Social Democratic Party on November 4, 2021. There are only two women leaders in that party. Her party formed a coalition government with the Green party. On getting elected, Andersson presented the government budget. At this point, their coalition partner quit, forcing Andersson to resign.  

But an election happened again on November 30, where Andersson was re-elected. She would be forming a single party government. Sweden is a monarchy. Andersson will formally start after a meeting with Sweden’s titular head, King Carl XVI Gustav.  

Will Magdalena Andersson be able to apply her budget after all?  
Andersson will have to follow the opposition’s budget. Though she has won as PM, their budget has won the voting. Andersson said she will concentrate on 3 priorities, welfare, climate and curbing violence. While the opposition budget has provision to increase police salaries and allocate more money to the judiciary, their welfare budget is less than half of what Andersson had presented, opening more ground for parliamentary battle. Overall, Sweden seems geared up for off-screen political drama this winter.