Magdalena Andersson made political history last week when she became Sweden's first female prime minister. She made history for the second time on Tuesday when she got her job back.
Andersson, 54, a former finance minister and leader of the Social Democratic Party, made international headlines on Wednesday after she stepped down hours after winning a vote to become prime minister by a narrow margin. The Green Party left her coalition after the nascent government collapsed.
She will form a one-party, minority government.
It feels good and I am eager to start," Andersson told reporters at a news conference after being elected, according to the Associated Press.
Sweden is known for its progressive views on gender, but it never had a woman in the top political post, making Andersson s appointment as prime minister a historic milestone for the nation of 10 million.
In the last general election in 2018, 47 percent of the Swedish parliament's representatives were female, the parliament's press office told NBC News. Sweden is the last Nordic country to have a female prime minister.
Denmark, Finland, and Iceland all have women as their prime ministers. Norway's first prime minister Gro Harlem BrundtlandHarlem Brundtland took office in 1981.
Andersson takes over as prime minister at a time of political fragmentation in the run-up to a general election in September. Her social Democrats have been in power since 2014, supported by parties united by little other than their desire to keep the Sweden Democrats, a right-wing populist party, from influencing the political agenda and policy.
As a minority leader, Andersson will have to lead one of Sweden's weakest governments in recent decades with just 100 seats in the 349 seat parliament, limiting her ability to govern, because she will have to rely on support from other parties to implement policy.
She has already said she will focus on three priorities - a welfare system sorely tested by the Covid 19 pandemic, climate change and gang violence.
She will have to live with a budget imposed by the opposition.
But Andersson said on Monday that her party has a long tradition of cooperation with others and will stand ready to do what is needed to lead Sweden forward.