Sweden’s Prime Minister loses confidence vote

Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven (Anders Wiklund / TT via AP)

Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has lost a no-confidence vote making him the country’s first government leader ever to lose such a motion.

The vote, which took place amid a housing crisis and skyrocketing property prices, was initiated on Tuesday by the small Left Party – an ally of the minority government that is not in the two-party centre-left coalition but had provided the votes to pass legislation.