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Stockholm, Sweden — Sweden’s Social Democratic Prime Minister Stefan Löfven said on Sunday that he would resign as head of government and party in November.
The unexpected announcement made in the annual summer speech preceded next year’s general elections, after Löfven in June became the first Swedish leader to lose motion in parliament.
“I would like to resign as leader at the party convention in November and request the prime minister to be dismissed,” Löfven said.
He said it was “a wonderful year” to be prime minister and leader of the Social Democratic Party.
“But everything has an end and we want to give our successors the best possible conditions,” said 63-year-old Löfven.
“It’s not easy, but it’s correct,” Löfven said. “I was a little sad.”
It was not immediately clear who would replace Löfven.
He has been the leader of the Social Democratic Party since 2012. It is Sweden’s largest political party, which currently holds 100 of the 349 seats in Parliament. The party has no obvious alternative to Löfven, but Swedish news agency TT has pointed out Treasury Minister Magdalena Anderson as a candidate.
The new leader of the Social Democratic Party will be elected at the party convention, which will be held from November 3rd to November. 7. And according to the Swedish Constitution, the person must be confirmed as prime minister by Parliament.
Earlier this year, Löfven resigned after losing a vote of no confidence and called on the chairman of parliament to try to establish a new government instead of an early election. He was able to form the same two-party coalition government as the previous one.
After the 2018 elections, Sweden was stalled in parliament because no one wanted to cooperate with the right-wing populist party Sweden Democrats. It took four months of negotiations to create the government presented by Löfven in January 2019.
Sweden’s next general election is scheduled for September 11, 2022.
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