Seoul Gazette - Sweden's Andersson: a trusted, no-nonsense political operator

While the 59-year-old identifies with her Social Democrat party's traditional left-wing, she has taken a pragmatic approach to its shift toward the centre.

She is a staunch defender of the Scandinavian country's famed welfare state, with an attitude that resonates with many Swedes, regularly topping opinion polls on the country's most trusted politicians.

"She has a way of speaking that many people feel they can trust," Stockholm University political scientist Jan Teorell told AFP.

"There are similarities to (former German chancellor Angela) Merkel. I think Merkel has been a bit of a role model for her."

Known simply as "Magda", Andersson has a reputation for being blunt and admits to being a demanding and impatient boss.

"Everything I want done, I want done yesterday," she said in a recent interview on the campaign trail, where she reputedly refuelled by peeling hard-boiled eggs.

Political scientist Marja Lemne of Sodertorn University described Andersson as "stubborn and driven" and "very strong on economic issues".

During the election campaign, she sought to woo voters from across the political spectrum.

She vowed to raise taxes on banks and high incomes to boost the welfare system, including shortening healthcare queues and helping struggling families pay their bills.

But she also pledged to maintain most of the right-wing government's hardline policies on crime and immigration.

- Election and re-election -

On the international scene, "I want Sweden to be an active member of NATO and a stronger voice within Europe because in this world we live in, we need a much stronger European Union", she told AFP at a rally ahead of Sunday's vote.

Andersson has led the Social Democrats since November 2021, after party leader and prime minister Stefan Lofven stepped down, effectively handing her the keys to government.

She was by then a well-known face to Swedes, after serving as the country's highly praised finance minister for seven years.

Parliament elected her prime minister on November 24, 2021, but dramatic hours and days were to follow.

The right-wing bloc teamed up with the far-right to defeat her budget just hours after her election, and the opposition's budget passed instead.

Rather than govern with a budget adopted by the far-right, the Greens Party quit Andersson's coalition and she resigned as prime minister after just seven hours in the job.

She regrouped with the left-wing bloc and parliament re-elected her prime minister five days later, making her Sweden's first woman head of government since the abdication of Queen Ulrika Eleonora in 1720.

- Heavy metal surprise -

Her stint as prime minister was brief -- just 10 months -- but eventful.

She guided Sweden through the Covid pandemic and a period of turbulent domestic politics, and spearheaded the reversal of the Social Democrats' longstanding opposition to NATO membership following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Under her leadership, Sweden applied to join the alliance in May 2022.

A few months later, in September 2022, she lost a general election to a right-wing bloc headed by Ulf Kristersson of the Moderate Party, and has since served as leader of the opposition.

Born in the university town of Uppsala in 1967, she is the only daughter of a university professor and a teacher.

She first made a name for herself in the water, twice winning gold in junior swimming championships.

She then immersed herself in the Social Democratic party, whose youth league she joined when she was 16.

She went on to earn a degree from the Stockholm School of Economics and did a brief spell at Harvard.

Outside politics, she has served as the deputy director of the Swedish Tax Agency and as chair of the IMF's advisory committee, the IMFC.

Underneath her pragmatism and sombre suits lie some surprises.

The mother-of-two, married to an economics professor with a ponytail, is a fan of heavy metal band System of a Down and held a "Sex and the City"-themed party for her 40th birthday.

C.Noh--SG