Stefan Löfven resigns as Sweden’s Prime Minister after seven years | Sweden
Stefan Löfven said on Sunday that he will resign as Sweden’s prime minister and head of the Social Democratic Party in November, after seven years in power.
The unexpected announcement – which was made during his annual summer speech – came before next year’s parliamentary elections and after Löfven in June became the first Swedish leader ever to lose a motion in parliament.
Löfven, who came to power in October 2014, said that he had informed the party “that I want to leave my post as party chairman at the party congress in November and then also ask to be deposed as prime minister”.
He said it has been a fantastic year to be Prime Minister and head of the Social Democrats.
“But everything has an end and I want to give my successor the very best conditions,” said the 63-year-old.
Getting off is “not easy, but right”, said Löfven and added that it was also “a little sad”.
It was not immediately clear who would replace Löfven.
Since 2012, he has been head of the Social Democrats – Sweden’s largest party, which holds 100 of the Riksdag’s 349 seats. The party has no obvious replacement for Löfven, but the Swedish news agency TT pointed out Minister of Finance Magdalena Andersson as a possible candidate.
A new leader of the Social Democratic Party will be elected at a party congress to be held between 3 and 7 November, and that person will then be confirmed as Prime Minister by the Riksdag, according to Sweden’s constitution.
Earlier this year, Löfven resigned after losing a vote of confidence and urged the country’s parliamentary speakers to try to form a new government instead of conducting an early election. He was able to form a coalition government with two parties that were the same as the previous one.
After the 2018 election, Sweden had a locked parliament because no one wanted to cooperate with the Sweden Democrats, a right-wing populist party that was considered extreme. It took four months of negotiations to form a government, which Löfven presented in January 2019.
Sweden’s next parliamentary election is scheduled for September 11, 2022.