Her historic initial appointment as Sweden’s first female prime minister lasted a matter of hours.

       Now, just a few days later, Magdalena Andersson is back and hopes to hold the job for a decade — if she can conquer the obstacles of minority government and an election due to be held in less than a year’s time.

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       “It feels good and I am eager to start working,” Andersson told reporters at a news conference on Monday, in which she committed to an agenda focused on the environment, welfare and tackling crime.

       The 54-year-old former finance minister made history last Wednesday as the first woman to hold the premiership, nearly 100 years after the Scandinavian country extended women the right to vote.

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       Scandinavia has a reputation as the home of some of the world’s most progressive gender policies. But Sweden had long lagged its Nordic neighbors — Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland — in electing a woman to its highest office.

       Sweden elected its first female leader. She resigned hours later.

       Just hours after her first appointment, however, Andersson resigned from the post when a member of the ruling coalition at the time, the center-left Green party, quit in protest after lawmakers passed a budget backed by three right-wing parties. Andersson’s Social Democratic Party had put forward an alternative proposal that failed to pass.

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       On Monday, Andersson laid out plans for a minority government consisting only of the Social Democrats, who hold 100 seats in the 349-seat parliament. That would mean she requires support from rival parties for any new legislation — a weakened position that could leave her government largely playing a caretaker role until national elections in September.

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       Andersson said Monday her party, which has been in power since 2014, has a “long tradition of cooperation.”

       Her appointment follows an uncharacteristically tumultuous period in Swedish politics. Andersson’s predecessor, Stefan L？fven, became the first Swedish head of government to lose a no-confidence vote in June. Known for its stable democracy, the country has become increasingly polarized in recent years over issues such as immigration and the integration of asylum seekers.

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       The latest budget was drafted by opposition parties, including the far-right, anti-migrant Sweden Democrats, which has become one of the country’s most popular parties.

       “If the parliament lasts until September, I suspect they’ll vote for a less fragmented parliament in order to get past this turbulence,” said Andrew Scott, a politics expert at the Australia Institute’s Nordic Policy Centre.

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       The new prime minister inherits stiff political challenges, including tackling escalating gang violence in major cities and rebuilding a health system strained by the coronavirus pandemic.

       Chart-topping 19-year-old Swedish rapper Einar was shot dead in southern Stockholm last month, underscoring gang-related problems in the country.

       Sweden also took a more hands-off approach to the pandemic than many other European nations by eschewing lockdowns. It has a much higher covid death rate than other Nordic nations, and the pandemic exposed gaps in the country’s vaunted welfare system.

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       There are around two dozen current female heads of state and government, according to UN Women, the United Nations agency focused on gender equality. Around half of those women head European countries, and the agency said gender parity in high political office will not be reached for another 130 years at the current rate.

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       Andersson won her second tilt as prime minister by a narrow margin, and experts predict next year’s election will also be a difficult race. At Monday’s news conference, however, she painted an upbeat view of the political future.

       “I don’t see this as the start of 10 months, I see this as the start of 10 years,” she told reporters.

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