Sweden’s PM to quit politics after seven-year term

Bloomberg

Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven shocked the political establishment on Sunday by announcing he will end his seven-year term in November, as well as stepping down as the leader of the Social Democrats.
“In next year’s election campaign, the party will be led by someone other than me,” Lofven, 64, said in a speech outside Stockholm. The former union leader and welder, who’s been chairman of the Social Democrat party for a decade, added the “decision has matured for some time.”
Last month saw Lofven navigate Sweden’s worst political crisis in decades after he narrowly won a parliamentary mandate to form a new coalition government. He had resigned in June after losing a no-confidence vote triggered by a plan to deregulate rental housing.
The Social Democrats currently control about a third of the seats in parliament in partnership with the Green Party.
What was already a shaky government coalition will now need to push a budget proposal through the country’s Riksdag in the fall.