Post by cenydd on Sept 10, 2013 9:57:12 GMT
Norwegians voted in a Conservative ruling party led by Erna Solberg, ending an eight-year tenure for Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg that was marked by economic stability and an unprecedented domestic terror attack.
With most of the vote counted late Monday, Ms. Solberg, known as "Iron Erna," was set to end Mr. Stoltenberg's eight-year tenure, as Norway shifted to the right, two years after a homegrown right-wing terrorist killed 77 people in Oslo and at Utoya.
"Today, voters have given the Conservatives our best Parliament election results in 28 years," Ms. Solberg told her party members in a speech late Monday.
"Voters have given us a mandate to go through with the Conservative policy of better schools, better roads and increasing Norway's competitiveness to ensure that Norway remains a welfare state," she added.
Meanwhile, a nonbinding referendum on whether Oslo would bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games was too close to call late Monday.
Ms. Solberg's Conservatives and three other center-right opposition parties will begin negotiations to form a government.
With most of the vote counted late Monday, Ms. Solberg, known as "Iron Erna," was set to end Mr. Stoltenberg's eight-year tenure, as Norway shifted to the right, two years after a homegrown right-wing terrorist killed 77 people in Oslo and at Utoya.
"Today, voters have given the Conservatives our best Parliament election results in 28 years," Ms. Solberg told her party members in a speech late Monday.
"Voters have given us a mandate to go through with the Conservative policy of better schools, better roads and increasing Norway's competitiveness to ensure that Norway remains a welfare state," she added.
Meanwhile, a nonbinding referendum on whether Oslo would bid for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games was too close to call late Monday.
Ms. Solberg's Conservatives and three other center-right opposition parties will begin negotiations to form a government.
online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324549004579065252711509072.html
I don't know much about the details of Norwegian politics, of course, but I guess everything is relative - a 'conservative' party talking about remaining a 'welfare state' seems a little odd from the outside!