Sweden gets its first female prime minister

STOCKHOLM - The Swedish parliament elected on Wednesday Magdalena Andersson as the country's new Prime Minister, the first female PM in Swedish history.

Less than half of the parliament members voted against Andersson, thus making her the country's new prime minister.

Under Sweden's system of negative parliamentarism, a prime ministerial candidate does not need a majority to vote for him or her, as long as the majority does not vote against.

With abstentions of the Center Party and the Left Party, 174 members voted against Andersson out of 349 votes cast.

At a parliament press conference, Andersson said that she "can live with" the opposition's budget proposal should it get passed this afternoon.

Andersson is scheduled to present her government on Friday.

Andersson had earlier listed several priorities, including moving away from welfare sector privatisation, strengthening green policies and social integration.

Sweden's next general elections are scheduled for September 2022, giving Andersson less than ten months to prepare for the race.