Norwegians voted Monday in an election where US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the war in Ukraine could give a boost to the government led by Labour Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store. Veteran Store has a slight lead in opinion polls, and analysts said geopolitical uncertainties could push voters to back the perceived stability of a sitting government. Much of the campaigning however has focused on domestic issues including the cost of living, healthcare, inequality, education and the possibility of abolishing a wealth tax, which has divided the two main camps.”What really concerned people was their daily situation, their personal economy, you know, how to cope with rising prices,” Store told reporters after voting at a high school in Oslo.
With the political landscape fragmented, the outcome will depend on whether all nine major parties will clear the four-percent threshold required to guarantee representation in parliament. An average of September polls has the Labour Party and its allies securing 88 of the 169 seats in Norway’s parliament, the Storting, according to the pollofpolls website.”We need new policies in Norway,” former prime minister Erna Solberg, heading the Conservatives and one of Store’s main rivals, told reporters as she casted her vote in her hometown of Bergen in western Norway.
Voting stations opened at 0700 GMT and the first projected results are expected after the final polling stations close at 1900 GMT. A record 1.9 million Norwegians, over 47 percent of the electorate, voted in advance and many polling stations were already open Sunday. Political scientist Johannes Bergh said Store’s long experience in global affairs — his stint as foreign minister began 20 years ago — could be an advantage.
Knut Aga, a 78-year-old entrepreneur, is one of many voters looking for stability. “Europe is in war, more or less. It’s not very good in the US (either),” Aga told AFP outside a polling station, explaining he wanted to feel safer. Norway, a NATO member, shares a border with Russia in the Arctic and its economy is highly dependent on exports.- Taking back control -The prime minister, who now runs a single-party minority government, was boosted domestically earlier this year by the return to government of popular ex-NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg.
To secure a majority in parliament, Store is likely to need all four of the other left-leaning parties. But the left-wing bloc is divided on many issues, including oil drilling, which Labour wants to continue while the Greens insist on phasing it out. Both parties favour close ties with the European Union and eventually want to join the bloc, but that is opposed by the Centre and the far-left parties, along with most Norwegians.
The far left wants the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the biggest in the world, to divest from Israel, which Labour opposes. However, the right-wing bloc is also divided, with Solberg’s Conservatives recently having been overtaken by the anti-immigration Progress Party in opinion polls. Solberg is also battling the Progress Party’s Sylvi Listhaug to be the bloc’s prime minister if it secures a majority. “Do we want to continue as before, spending more and maintaining very high taxes without getting more for our money than neighbouring countries, or do we want to take back control and stop waste,” Listhaug told broadcaster TV2 on Monday.
Further complicating matters, the right-wing bloc also comprises two small centre-right parties including the Liberals, who are at odds with the Progress Party on several issues including the fight against climate change, the European Union and immigration.
Mon, 08 Sep 2025 13:12:22 GMT