The Left Migh Win Norway Election

Norwegians vote on Sept. 12-13 to pick a parliament and government for the next four years, KFGO reports.

Opinion polls show the centre-left opposition is poised to win power after eight years of Conservative-led rule.

All 169 seats in parliament are up for grabs, and at least nine parties – four on the right, five on the left – are expected to win seats under Norway’s system of proportional representation.

There are three candidates for the job of prime minister – the incumbent Erna Solberg of the Conservatives, Labour’s Jonas Gahr Stoere, who is favourite to win, and Centre Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, an outsider in the race.

If opinion polls are correct, Labour’s Stoere will likely get the job of forming a coalition government, but must meet tough demands from smaller parties to keep their support over the next four years.

According to KFGO, Solberg’s Conservative Party seeks to cut personal income taxes and to further reduce the wealth tax. If the centre-left wins, Stoere has promised tax relief for low- and middle-income families and hikes for the top 20% of incomes. Labour also seeks to increase wealth taxation.

The main campaign topics were the huge Norwegian oil and gas industry, the spending of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund, and the future relations with the EU (Norway is not a member of the European Union).