Sweden's Lofven re-elected PM in parliament vote

STOCKHOLM: Swedish Social Democrat leader Stefan Lofven was re-elected prime minister by parliament on Wednesday, ending weeks of turmoil but leaving him to navigate a political landscape riddled with uncertainty heading into next year's election.

Lofven, 63, who resigned as premier last month after losing a no-confidence vote, has yet to find sufficient backing to pass a budget and has said he will resign again if he is unable to get one through parliament in the autumn.

The former union boss has headed a fragile centre-left minority cabinet since the 2018 election which produced a nearly evenly split parliament and big gains for the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, with whom several other parties refuse to deal.

While the vote was seen being extremely narrow, Lofven had been expected to avoid a majority voting against him, the prerequisite to be approved as premier by the Swedish Riksdag. In the end, he avoided rejection by two votes in the 349-seat parliament.