Until a few hours before the decisive vote on Wednesday morning in the Reichstag, Magdalena Andersson was still negotiating in order to secure the necessary votes as Prime Minister.

The situation worsened and the outcome seemed uncertain.

It was not until late Tuesday evening that it was clear that it would be enough for the Social Democrat.

The Left Party pledged its support for the vote.

However, Andersson had only cleared the first hurdle of the day.

A few hours later she failed on the second.

Matthias Wyssuwa

Political correspondent for Northern Germany and Scandinavia based in Hamburg.

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On Wednesday morning, however, the Swedish Reichstag will first be about a historic moment. The debate starts at 9 a.m., and most speakers do not forget to mention: 54-year-old Andersson is the first woman to become Prime Minister in the Kingdom. Exactly 100 years after women were given the right to vote in the Reichstag. Although they are proud of the great progress made in terms of gender equality, the government calls itself feminist. However, the heads of the government have always been men, most recently Stefan Löfven. Until on Wednesday shortly after 10 a.m. the Speaker of Parliament called for a vote, and then announced that no majority of MPs had voted against Andersson. That is enough. The President of Parliament drops his hammer and Andersson is elected.117 MPs voted for it, 57 abstained, 174 voted against it. One more no and it would have failed. One MP was missing.

Sweden is a fantastic country

Shortly thereafter, Andersson received her first press conference as Prime Minister.

Sweden is a fantastic country, she says, and there are so many things to be proud of.

But it is also clear that there are serious problems.

She speaks of segregation, climate change and welfare.

"I am ready to lead a government that will do whatever it takes to address these issues," she says.

However, it is not even clear what the Reichstag will allow them to do with their red-green minority government.

In the afternoon she has to put her budget to a vote, she does not have a majority.

And while Andersson is still in front of the press, the Greens say that they are no longer so sure about staying in government should the budget fail. But if the government collapses, Andersson would have to face the vote as prime minister again, according to parliamentary tradition. And she hadn't even had her official inaugural visit to the king. In the late afternoon it happens exactly like that - and after a good seven hours in office, Andersson asks for her dismissal again.

Wednesday in Stockholm's Reichstag is a chaotic climax of a chaotic political year.

A year in which Andersson's social democratic predecessor Löfven was the first prime minister ever to be overthrown with a vote of no confidence and then came back to power - only to announce his retirement shortly afterwards.

A year in which the government had to take criticism not only because of its corona policy, but also because of the increasing gang violence in the country.

And a year in which two parties on the political fringes have massively gained influence: the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats and the Left Party.

Right-wing populists with certain household

It was the Left Party that made the overthrow of Löfven possible in the summer. Andersson had to negotiate with her by Tuesday evening. In the end, she promised more money for her pension, and the left pledged her support. The majority in the Reichstag is complicated, with only 116 of the 349 members of the previous red-green government. It took Löfven four months after the 2018 election to secure sufficient support. He succeeded in winning over two bourgeois parties, the Liberals and the Center Party. They shared the conviction that this is the only way to prevent the Sweden Democrats from gaining more influence. The Center Party still sees it that way and abstained from voting on Andersson.But the liberals have rejoined the bourgeois bloc. There one has long since moved closer and closer to the Sweden Democrats. You are the third largest party in parliament.

Now the Sweden Democrats were allowed to work on the budget of the bourgeois opposition for the first time. On Wednesday afternoon, this budget got a majority, Andersson's draft failed. Löfven has also had to rule with an opposition budget, that's nothing new. However, it is the first that the Sweden Democrats have been involved in. This is exactly what gives the greens stomach ache. After the vote, they announce that they no longer want to govern like this. Shortly thereafter, Andersson gives her second press conference as Prime Minister and announces her retirement. This Thursday, the President of Parliament wants to announce how things will proceed. It is quite possible that Andersson will run again soon.

Löfven had announced his withdrawal to give his successor time to better position the party and government for the next parliamentary election.

Andersson was his desired successor, she had been his finance minister since 2014.

She had never made a secret of the fact that she was in the front row, that she wanted to lead.

In the nine months leading up to the election, however, it not only has to rebuild the slack social democracy.

It has enough to do with keeping its party in power at all.