"Some are afraid of her": First woman to head Sweden's government? It is already making comparisons with Merkel

Sweden could experience a novelty on Wednesday: a woman as prime minister.

Experts are already drawing parallels with Angela Merkel.

Stockholm - She describes herself as a “nice, hardworking woman” who likes to make decisions.

Magdalena Andersson now has the best chance of being the first woman to run government in Sweden.

The social democrat is considered powerful and self-confident.

She could jump from the Ministry of Finance to the top of the government on Wednesday morning (November 24th) - just as Olaf Scholz wants it to be.

And in contrast to the self-assessment of the 54-year-olds, the public television broadcaster SVT recently christened a program dedicated to her “The Bulldozer”.

Sweden: First woman about to step into prime ministerial office - some "are afraid of her"

The long-time prime minister, Andersson's party colleague Stefan Löfven, announced his retirement in August. At the beginning of October, a party congress of the Social Democrats elected his finance minister as the successor to the party chairmanship. With the approval of parliament, the former top swimmer could now inherit Löfven at the top of the government. The vote is due on Wednesday. However, at the start of the week there was still no clear prospect of tolerance in the Riksdag, as

reported by

- despite intensive negotiations over the weekend.

Andersson's direct manner sometimes leads to irritation in Sweden, say observers.

"Some people have even said that they are afraid of her," reports Anders Lindberg, head of politics at the daily

.

By the way, Andersson is already known to the presumed new German Chancellor.

Scholz recently attended the Swedish Social Democrats' congress.

The SPD chancellor candidate said to the delegates on the election of the 54-year-olds: "You could not have made a better choice." The German word that Andersson describes best in his opinion is "sincerity", he said in his otherwise in English speech given.

For her part, Andersson had previously presented Scholz as "one of the most skilful politicians in Europe".

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Politically, Andersson is faced with a difficult task: In polls, the Social Democrats are approaching the lowest approval ratings in their history.

On the other hand, the conservative “moderators” have given up their clear demarcation from the far-right party, the Sweden Democrats, and would be ready to govern together with them.

These parties do not currently have a majority.

Observers also see this overall situation as the reason for Löfven's surprising decision to give up his post as Prime Minister less than a year before the parliamentary elections.

His resignation gives Andersson and the party the opportunity to reposition themselves and start the election campaign under new leadership - if they get a majority in parliament.

If this fails, the task of forming a government could change and go to the moderator Ulf Kristersson.

Magdalena Andersson: "She comes from an intellectual elite"

Andersson is a close confidante of the outgoing head of government and yet has a completely different background than the former metal unionist Löfven.

"Today she likes to present herself as a good little soldier who used to organize coffee breaks at party meetings and make sandwiches," says Jonas Hinnfors, political scientist at the University of Gothenburg.

"But she comes from an intellectual elite."

The daughter of a professor and a teacher from Uppsala first demonstrated her ambition in the swimming pool and became a Swedish youth champion.

At 16, she joined the Social Democrats.

During her studies at the elite Stockholm School of Commerce, she got involved in the party's youth organization.

In 1996 she became an employee of the then Prime Minister Göran Persson.

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Since then she has switched between party offices and high officials.

"It comes from inside the system," says the journalist Lindberg.

At first she was part of the left wing of the party, says the political scientist Hinnfors.

However, she fully supported the “pragmatic” change of course by the Social Democrats towards the political center.

The Swedish parliament will vote for the first time on Wednesday on her appointment as the country's first female prime minister.

Andersson should not be rejected by an absolute majority in parliament for this.

The bourgeois Center Party has already announced that it will not vote against Andersson.

The green Miljöparti is ready for an alliance anyway.

At the weekend, the 54-year-old was still missing a few votes, especially from the Left Party.

Among other things, there is a dispute about a "guaranteed pension" - a possible Swedish equivalent to the basic pension.

The left also ensured Löfven's departure in a vote of no confidence in the summer.

So there is a lot of tension required.

However, it was generally expected that Andersson would still receive the necessary support.

"She has a way of arguing that is a little reminiscent of Angela Merkel: It is not always very clear what she means, but she wins in the end because nobody else has an answer and because she has mastered all the details," says Lindberg.

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