Sweden election puts Israel and Palestine policy on the ballot

Sweden is voting in a knife-edge general election that could reshape the country's position on Israel and Palestine. The contest is taking place in Stockholm and across the country, with foreign policy emerging as one of the issues under debate. The result could determine whether Sweden keeps its current stance or moves in a different direction on recognition of Palestine and wider Middle East policy.

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Polling cited ahead of the vote gave the left-wing coalition a narrow lead over the current right-wing government. A Novus survey released on Monday put support for the left-wing bloc at 50.3 percent, compared with 47.9 percent for the governing side. The Sweden Democrats, the country's second-largest party, want Sweden's recognition of Palestine revoked.

Sweden recognised Palestine in 2014, becoming the first European Union member state to do so. That decision strained relations with Israel and has remained part of the political debate ever since. The current right-wing government does not describe Israel's conduct in Gaza as genocide and has not joined South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

The issue has also been shaped by Sweden's broader diplomatic history in the region. The article notes that Count Folke Bernadotte, the United Nations' first mediator for Palestine, was assassinated in Jerusalem in 1948 by the Zionist paramilitary group Lehi. It also says Sweden later hosted talks in Stockholm between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and a delegation of prominent American Jews, after which Washington opened dialogue with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

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Domestic coalition politics are central to the election outcome. The governing bloc is made up of the Moderates, Christian Democrats and Liberals, with the Sweden Democrats supporting it from outside under an agreement signed in 2022. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Sweden Democrats leader Jimmie Akesson have said an election victory would lead to a four-party cabinet, with the Sweden Democrats receiving significant portfolios.

The current government has also altered its approach to humanitarian funding. It suspended Sweden's funding to UNRWA after Israel alleged that some of the agency's staff took part in the 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel led by Hamas, before later resuming funding and then ending it again, according to the supplied report. What remains unclear is whether the election result will produce a formal policy shift on Palestine recognition or on Sweden's broader approach to the conflict.

The next step will be coalition talks and any early statements from the parties on foreign policy priorities.

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