With 99% of the votes counted, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s center-left coalition appears to have won the national elections held on Monday. 86 of the 169 seats in the Storting went to the Red-Greens, giving them a plurality. If the victory is indeed confirmed, Labour and its partners will be the first government to be re-elected in sixteen years. This result means that oil drilling around Lofoten is now unlikely, since the leftist coalition is opposed to opening up the Arctic waters to exploration. Stoltenberg remarked,
“We had two goals for this campaign. First that Labor would win the election, and [second] that the red-green coalition would continue. That we have clearly done.”
More to come…
News links
“Labor headed for victory in Norway vote,” New York Times
“Norway government ahead with 95% of votes counted,” Reuters
“Regjeringen fortsetter, de borgliger krangler videre,” Aftenposten
“Oil cash crucial to Norway vote,” Upstream Times
