Norway Keeps Leftists in Power - by Walter Gibbs
Norwegian voters have returned their Labor-dominated government to office, narrowly endorsing Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s pursuit of expanded public services and rejecting angry demands by some of his opponents to crack down harshly on immigration. The biggest party on the conservative side remained Progress, led by the country’s most strident politician, Siv Jensen. Her outspoken opposition to immigration and foreign development aid — which she called “aid for corrupt dictators in Africa” — was coupled with a populist call to slash taxes and spend more of Norway’s oil revenue on government operations. That helped her party win about 23 percent of the vote, giving it 41 seats. But opinion polls as recently as a week ago had suggested an even stronger showing. Harald Stanghelle, the political editor of the newspaper Aftenposten, said the apparent drop in support for the party had to do with maintaining the balance of power.
“Many voters want Progress to be there as a protest party, but they don’t want to see them in office,” Mr. Stanghelle said.
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