Sweden Had a Woman Prime Minister – for 7 Hours

Hours after she made history by becoming Sweden's first woman prime minister, Magdalena Andersson has resigned.

Andersson was approved as prime minister by Sweden’s Parliament on Wednesday morning in a knife-edge vote, but she resigned later in the day when the Greens left her minority coalition government and she suffered a budget defeat in Parliament.

“For me, it is about respect, but I also do not want to lead a government where there may be grounds to question its legitimacy,” Andersson told a news conference, according to the Associated Press.

Andersson, the leader of the Social Democrats and a former finance minister, reportedly plans to seek the prime minister’s office again, but this time without the support of the Greens.

Up until today Sweden was the only Nordic country to have never elected a woman as Prime Minister, with Andersson’s 33 predecessors all men.