Sweden
SwedeniStock

Sweden’s first female prime minister who stepped down on Wednesday after barely eight hours in office has been reelected in a crucial vote by the country’s parliament.

On Monday, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, 54, was reelected by a vote of 101 to 173 with 75 abstaining. She will now form a minority government consisting only of her party, the Social Democrats.

Her term will be Sweden’s first single party administration in 15 years, having only 100 seats out of 349. Swedish news outlet SVT reported that her government will be the weakest the country has seen in years.

“We are ready to take Sweden forward,” Andersson was quoted as saying after she became prime minister for the second time in less than a week. She said her mandate will focus on welfare, tackling crime and climate change.

Her party had to go it alone after their previous coalition fell apart last week when the Green Party left, refusing to rejoin the government due to it losing an important budget vote.

She had initially shored up her coalition by enacting a deal with the far left Left Party, but with a shaky political situation her ability to govern was always uncertain, according to media reports.

Her party’s predecessor Stefan Lofven had managed to stay in power by satisfying both left and centrist parties who were not part of his coalition.

However, the budget vote was not successful due to the Center Party’s disapproval of Andersson’s deal with the formerly communist Left Party, with it accusing her of moving her party too far to the left.

Upon resigning last week after only seven and a half hours on the job, Andersson said: “Of course, I fully understand that this appears to be messy. A party that this morning voted for a prime minister who formed a government with that party has now changed its mind."

She added that she hoped to be reelected as prime minister with a single party minority government.