Norway general elections- landslide victory for the left parties
Labour party led left parties won 100 seats out of 169 while ruling conservative won 68 seats
The Labour
Party led Left block has won the clear majority in the general elections in
Norway. Labour Party and its two allies, the Socialist Left and the Center
Party — would hold 100 seats in the 169-seat strong assembly while the current
government would get 68.
It means that 8 years long Conservative rule
came to an end. The ruling Conservative block has conceded defeat. One seat is
still undecided.
Nearly 3.9
million Norwegians were eligible to vote and more than 1.6 million of them
voted in advance, according to Norway’s election commission. Turnout was 76.3 %,
down from more than 78 % in this nation of 5.3 million voted.
After Left
block’s victory in Norway, the five countries in the Nordic region -- a bastion
of social democracy -- will thus all be governed by left-wing governments soon.
A day after
winning Norway's general election, left-wing parties kicked off thorny talks to
form a government replacing the centre-right in power for eight years.
Jonas Gahr
Store, a millionaire who is set to become the next prime minister, is expected
to try to build a three-party coalition with his Labour Party, the Centre Party
and Socialist Left. He made inequality as the main slogan of his election
campaign. He won the election on the slogan of fairer society.
He also said
he would meet with other members of the current opposition, the Greens, who won
three seats, and the communist Red Party, which took eight seats. The results
are showing that electoral in Norway has moved to the left.
The election
campaign was dominated by two issues, the climate change and the future of the
country’s oil and gas exploration industry. Labour has promised an industrial
policy that will funnel support to new green industries, like wind power, “blue
hydrogen” that uses natural gas to produce an alternative fuel, and carbon
capture and storage, which seeks to bury carbon dioxide under the ocean.
The
Conservatives suffered a setback, losing 4.7 percentage points which was dubbed
by Norwegian broadcaster NRK as “the election’s biggest loser.” Its former
coalition partner, the Progress Party lost 3.4 percentage points.
The campaign
focused on the North Sea oil and gas that has helped makes Norway one of the world’s
wealthiest countries. But fears about climate change have put the future of the
industry in doubt. The country’s biggest industry is responsible for over 40
percent of exports and directly employs more than 5 percent of the workforce.
Most of
Norway’s oil and gas still comes from mature areas in the North Sea, but most
of the country’s untapped reserves are in the Barents Sea, above the Arctic
Circle. That is a red line for environmentalists, who could play a crucial role
in securing a majority government.
After Left
block’s victory in Norway, the five countries in the Nordic region -- a bastion
of social democracy -- will thus all be governed by left-wing governments soon.
The August
"code red for humanity" report from the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) put the issue at the top of the agenda for the
election campaign and forced the country to reflect on the oil that has made it
immensely rich.
The report
energised those who want to get rid of oil, both on the left and, to a lesser
extent, the right.
The oil
sector accounts for 14 percent of Norway's gross domestic product, as well as
40 percent of its exports and 160,000 direct jobs.
In addition,
the cash cow has helped the country of 5.4 million people amass the world's
biggest sovereign wealth fund, today worth close to 12 trillion kroner (almost
1.2 trillion euros, $1.4 trillion).
Khalid
Bhatti
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