Israel's Memorial Day: Remembrance and grief, in photos

From Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and Latrun, families, soldiers and civilians place flags and flowers on graves during Israel's annual Memorial Day. Israelis observe moments of silence, visit military cemeteries and gather at memorial sites to commemorate fallen soldiers and all those killed in the country's conflicts, including victims of the Hamas-led militant attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.

A man visits Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on the eve of Israel's annual Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israelis observe two minutes of silence as air raid sirens sound to mark Memorial Day for soldiers who died in the nation's conflicts and victims of nationalistic attacks at the Armored Corps memorial site in Latrun, Israel Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Soldiers and civilians mark Israel's annual Memorial Day at the site of the Nova music festival where hundreds of revelers were killed and abducted in the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack near Kibbutz Reim in southern Israel Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

People climb on old tanks at the Armored Corps memorial site during a ceremony marking Israel's annual Memorial Day for the soldiers who died in the nation's conflicts and victims of nationalistic attacks, in Latrun, Israel, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

People stand still to observe two minutes of silence as air raid sirens sound, marking Israel's annual Memorial Day for the soldiers who died in the nation's conflicts and victims of nationalistic attacks at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

People take their photos on old tanks at the Armored Corps memorial site during a ceremony marking Israel's annual Memorial Day for the soldiers who died in the nation's conflicts and victims of nationalistic attacks, in Latrun, Israel, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

A woman weeps over the grave of her relative as Israel marks the annual Memorial Day, honoring soldiers killed in the nation's conflicts and victims of nationalistic attacks, at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

A man touches the wall with names of fallen soldiers during Israel's annual Memorial Day for the soldiers who died in the nation's conflicts and victims of nationalistic attacks at the Armored Corps memorial site in Latrun, Israel, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

People visit the graves of their relatives as they mark Israel's annual Memorial Day, honoring soldiers killed in the nation's conflicts and victims of nationalistic attacks, at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

People stand still to observe two minutes of silence as air raid sirens sound, marking Israel's annual Memorial Day for the soldiers who died in the nation's conflicts and victims of nationalistic attacks, in Jerusalem, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud illean)

Israeli soldiers and relatives visit a military cemetery ahead of the annual Memorial Day honoring fallen soldiers and victims of nationalistic attacks in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Israeli soldiers place flags and flowers on graves at a military cemetery ahead of the annual Memorial Day honoring fallen soldiers and victims of nationalistic attacks in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

People visit the Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on the eve of Israel's annual Memorial Day for the fallen soldiers, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli soldiers place flags and flowers on graves at a military cemetery ahead of the annual Memorial Day honoring fallen soldiers and victims of nationalistic attacks in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, April 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

People take their photos on old tanks at the Armored Corps memorial site during a ceremony marking Israel's annual Memorial Day for the soldiers who died in the nation's conflicts and victims of nationalistic attacks, in Latrun, Israel, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

People stand still to observe two minutes of silence as air raid sirens sound, marking Israel's annual Memorial Day for the soldiers who died in the nation's conflicts and victims of nationalistic attacks, in Jerusalem, Tuesday, April 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Mahmoud illean)

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Sweden is holding an election on Sunday that will determine whether a conservative leader remains in charge and a hard-right party wins ministerial jobs for the first time, or whether the center-left returns to power.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is seeking a second four-year term at the helm of the European Union nation that is also NATO’s newest member. His predecessor hopes to win the job back. The question of who will govern has taken up more space than actual policy issues.

More than 8 million people in the nation of about 10.6 million people are eligible to vote in the election for the 349-seat parliament in Stockholm, the Riksdag, which will elect the next prime minister.

Kristersson has led Sweden since 2022 with a three-party center-right coalition. It relies on outside support from the Sweden Democrats, an anti-immigration party that has far-right roots but has moved toward the political mainstream, for a parliamentary majority. If the right is re-elected, it can expect Cabinet posts this time.

He's up against Magdalena Andersson of the center-left Social Democrats, a party that more often than not led Swedish governments since World War II. Andersson served as prime minister from 2021 until she lost power at the last election.

Experts say the campaign has been fragmented and incoherent, with policy questions such as how health care should be organized drowned out by the question of which parties will be able to put together a government.

“Crime has come down, inflation has come down. So these topics are not really what people discuss," said Zeth Isaksson, a sociologist in electoral behavior at Stockholm University. "People discuss who is going to be in government, and that’s what the election is about.”

There are two major political blocs: one with four parties on the right and another with four parties on the left. So the big question is not so much which party wins as which side can put together a majority. Individual parties need a minimum 4% of the vote to win parliamentary seats.

On the face of it, “it would be a sensation if the opposition parties, having been ahead in the opinion polls pretty much for four years since the last election, didn’t now win a majority,” said Nicholas Aylott, associate professor of political science at Södertörn University.

But he said that an “extremely defensive” campaign by the Social Democrats may have cost them some support, leaving some voters wondering why they should support the party. The right-wing bloc's hope of convincing voters that it's more united than its rivals may have had “a little impact,” he added.

One significant thing is different in this election. The Sweden Democrats, who in 2022 took 20.5% of the vote to become the biggest party on the right, can expect Cabinet seats if power doesn't change hands.

Kristersson announced in April that his conservative Moderates would allow them into government if the right has a majority — though he would remain prime minister, even if the Sweden Democrats are the stronger party.

The Sweden Democrats were founded in the 1980s by people who had been active in right-wing extremist groups, including neo-Nazis. They toned down their rhetoric and expelled openly racist members under Jimmie Åkesson, who has led them since 2005 and overseen their growth from what was once a marginal party.

“There’s some, I won’t say fear, but trepidation, apprehension about the possibility of Sweden Democrat ministers,” Aylott said, and the Social Democrats recently have tried to exploit that.

But even as parties on the populist right gain elsewhere in Europe, for instance in a far-right triumph in a weekend state election in Germany, the election may reinforce the impression that the Sweden Democrats “have peaked to some extent,” Isaksson said.

Not so much. “The biggest threat to Sweden’s security is from the war in Ukraine and there is almost complete consensus in Sweden about support for Ukraine and deep antipathy towards Russia,” Aylott said.

Sweden's Psychological Defense Agency said that the country's election isn't Russia's top priority, as that broad support reduces the incentive for Moscow to interfere.

However, just over a week before the election, Expo magazine published a report alleging that a civil servant working in parliament for the Sweden Democrats had spread Russian state narratives on social networks. She is the partner of the head of the party's coordination office with the government, Gustav Gellerbrant.

Gellerbrant said her posts were taken out of context and were meant as irony and sarcasm. He said he decided to go on parental leave to avoid shifting the focus of the election campaign.

Kristersson, who said that “there is no room for pro-Russian narratives in Sweden," welcomed that decision.

After decades of post-World War II neutrality and centuries of broader nonalignment with major powers, Sweden joined NATO in 2024 as the trans-Atlantic military alliance’s 32nd member. The move to join was initiated by Andersson's government after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and completed under Kristersson.

Sweden's Center Party leader Elisabeth Thand Ringqvist, left, campaigns with former party leader Annie Lööf in Stockholm, Sweden, Saturday Sept. 5, 2026, ahead of the general election on Sept. 13. (Stefan Jerrevång/TT via AP)

Sweden Democrats party leader Jimmie Åkesson (SD) presents the party's election manifesto for 2026 at Stora torget in Nyköping, Sweden, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (Magnus Lejhall/TT News Agency via AP)

Sweden Democrats party leader Jimmie Åkesson (SD) presents the party's election manifesto for 2026 at Stora torget in Nyköping, Sweden, Monday, Sept. 7, 2026. (Magnus Lejhall/TT News Agency via AP)

Sweden's Social Democratic Party leader Magdalena Andersson gives a speech in Stockholm, Sweden, Saturday Sept. 5, 2026, ahead of general election on Sept. 13. (Jonathan Näckstrand/TT via AP)

Swedish Moderate Party Ministers, from left, Pål Jonson, Ulf Kristersson, Gunnar Strömmer, Elisabeth Svantesson and Maria Malmer Stenergard hold an election rally in Malmö, Sweden, Saturday Sept. 5, 2026, ahead of general election on Sept. 13. (Johan Nilsson/TT via AP)