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Published: 10:45, March 23, 2023 | Updated: 10:47, March 23, 2023
Sweden's Parliament endorses country joining NATO
By Xinhua
Published:10:45, March 23, 2023 Updated:10:47, March 23, 2023 By Xinhua

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson speaks during a news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (not in image) after a meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, March 15, 2023. (PHOTO / AP)

STOCKHOLM - Sweden's lawmakers overwhelmingly voted on Wednesday in favor of the country joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Sweden and Finland dropped their decades-long policies of military non-alignment and applied to join NATO last May

The vote was 269 in favor and 37 against. Forty-three lawmakers were absent. Two of the eight parties represented in the country's Parliament (Riksdag) — the Left Party and the Green Party — voted against the motion.

ALSO READ: Türkiye endorses Finland's NATO bid, but Sweden 'must wait'

Hungary and Türkiye remain the last two hold-outs among NATO's 30 members to ratify the accession of Sweden and Finland to the military alliance.

Also on Wednesday, a proposal tabled by the Left Party and the Green Party to outlaw nuclear weapons on Sweden's territory in both peace and wartime was voted down in the Riksdag.

Sweden and Finland dropped their decades-long policies of military non-alignment and applied to join NATO last May.

ALSO READ: US, NATO cashing in on conflict

Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed on Friday to ask his country's Parliament to vote on Finland's NATO membership bid, but delayed that of Sweden, saying Finland has taken concrete steps to address Türkiye's security concerns.


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