Norwegian parliamentary election, 2005

A general election to the Storting, the parliament of Norway, is scheduled for 12 September 2005. All 169 seats will be contested: an increase of four from the previous election.

Background

Before the election, Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik led a coalition government consisting of the Conservative Party, Christian People's Party (which supplied the prime minister) and the Liberal Left, with the conditional support of the right-wing Progress Party. Between them, the three main parties of the coalition held 62 seats in the outgoing 165-seat Storting. The Progress Party held an additional 26, giving the four parties a majority when acting together.

Divisions within the coalition led to the temporary withdrawal of support by the Progress Party in November 2004, in response to what they saw as the government's underfunding of hospitals. An agreement was later reached. The government also attracted criticism for its handling of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, in which several Norwegians died, with the prime minister admitting to mistakes in his government's delayed reaction to the disaster.

The question of private schools was controversial in 2005, with the opposition Labour Party, Socialist Left Party and Centre Party rejecting the government's plan to allow schools other than those offering an "alternative education", or those founded on religious beliefs, to become private.

Opinion polls in early 2005 indicated a clear lead for the Labour Party. Its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, was prime minister from March 2000 to October 2001. Polling suggests that the Labour, Socialist Left and Centre parties could form a 'red-green' coalition, which would command a majority in the Storting.

References

1. Election tracker: Norway 2005 (http://www.angus-reid.com/tracker/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewItem&itemID=5892). Angus Reid Consultants. Retrieved 5 June 2005.

Preceded by: 2001

Elections in Norway

Followed by: 2009

no:Stortingsvalget 2005