The left-wing opposition led by Labor Jonas Gahr Store was on its way, Monday, September 13, to victory in the legislative elections in Norway, according to projections published at the close of the polls and made from early votes.
The five opposition parties are expected to win 104 of the 169 seats in the Storting, Norway’s unicameral parliament, enough to oust the right-wing coalition of conservative Erna Solberg.
With 88 seats at the moment, the Labor Party of Mr Store, the likely next prime minister, is even on the way to securing an absolute majority with their favorite allies, the Center Party and the Socialist Party, without needing the other two forces. opposition, environmentalists from the Environment and Greens Party (MdG) and Rodt’s Communists.
This should facilitate negotiations to form a coalition government, which still promise to be long and delicate. The campaign was dominated by the fate of the country’s oil activities and the MdG, in particular, had conditioned its support on the immediate end of exploration in the country, the largest exporter of hydrocarbons in Western Europe. . An ultimatum rejected by Mr. Store. 61-year-old millionaire who campaigned against social inequalities, Mr. Store advocates – like his conservative opponents – a smooth and gradual exit from the oil economy.
The oil sector represents 14% of gross domestic product
“The demand for oil is on a downward slope. It happens by itself, by the law of the market. We do not need to decree it (…) but to build bridges towards activities of the future ”, explained to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Sunday the Labor responsible for energy issues, Espen Barth Eide. “We will continue to have oil activities but we must admit that the best oil years are behind us”, he had stressed.
The petroleum sector accounts for 14% of Norwegian gross domestic product, more than 40% of exports and 160,000 direct jobs. It also enabled the kingdom of 5.4 million inhabitants to amass the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world with nearly 12,000 billion crowns of assets (1,166 billion euros).
A graduate of Sciences Po Paris and Minister of Jens Stoltenberg between 2005 and 2013, Mr. Store will now have to engage in thorny negotiations with the Center Party, which mainly defends the interests of the rural world, and the Socialist Party, more concerned environmental issues.
These allies, who once ruled together under Mr. Stoltenberg, have often opposing positions, notably on the urgency to emerge from the oil age, and the centrists of Trygve Slagsvold Vedum have said during the campaign that they do not want to sit with the Socialist Party of Audun Lysbakken. Victim of a wear and tear of power after eight years at the helm, a record for the conservatives, and multiple crises (migrants, fall in the price of the barrel, Covid-19 …), Mme Solberg, 60, is expected to speak later in the evening.
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