The Official Council of Swedish Jewish Communities has renewed its warnings regarding persistent antisemitism within the Left Party (Vänsterpartiet), following a fresh wave of expulsions involving local candidates.
The renewed scrutiny comes after the Left Party removed eight additional candidates from its electoral lists.
According to reporting by Expressen and regional media outlets, the candidates faced disciplinary action after internal investigations and journalistic exposés revealed they had shared antisemitic conspiracy theories, praised Russian President Vladimir Putin, and expressed support for Hamas.
According to public broadcasts by Sveriges Radio, these latest removals bring the total number of candidates ousted from the party over antisemitism, Holocaust denial, support for terrorism, homophobia, and praise for authoritarian regimes to 33.
Aron Verständig, chairman of the Official Council of Swedish Jewish Communities, stated on X/Twitter on Monday that the council previously criticized the Left Party in the autumn of 2024 because the party “had failed to distance itself from the antisemitism that leading representatives had spread during the summer.”
Problems with antisemitism in the party were structural
Verständig noted that when distances and expulsions were eventually enacted, they met with heavy resistance from large parts of the party.
“It became clear to me that the problems the party had with antisemitism were not limited to a few individuals but were structural,” he stated, adding that the council raised this directly in meetings with party leadership.
Verständig criticized the leadership’s ongoing approach, pointing out that media outlets have repeatedly uncovered representatives spreading explicit antisemitism.
While noting that the party has acted against these individuals, Verständig emphasized, “to my knowledge, it has never taken the initiative to investigate its own representatives.”
He added that apologetic explanations from party sympathizers surface with every new revelation. “It is simply frightening that this has been allowed to go this far,” Verständig stated, expressing deep alarm that “there are other parties that are considering cooperation with the Left Party.”
The Left Party did not respond to an emailed request for comment by the time of publication.
