Norway ruling Labor Party wins reelection while populists score gains

Norway's minority Labor Party government won a second term in power on Monday while the populist right achieved its best-ever election result, official results showed.

Incumbent Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere's Labor and four smaller, left-leaning parties won 87 seats, above the 85 needed for a majority, with 99 percent of ballots counted.

Stoere, 65, will remain heavily reliant on his smaller allies, however, to pass major legislation, such as fiscal budgets. To get their backing, he will likely face tough discussions over issues such as tax hikes for the wealthy, future oil exploration, and divestments by Norway's $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund from Israeli companies.

"Stoere will continue as prime minister, but with a much more difficult parliamentary situation, in which he is dependent on five parties to govern," Jonas Stein, an associate professor in political science at the University of Tromsoe, told Reuters.

Despite the left's victory, Monday's ballot showed a shift further to the right among conservative voters, with the populist, anti-immigration Progress Party of Sylvi Listhaug making its best-ever showing in an election.

Progress secured 48 seats in the 169-seat parliament, more than double its allocation from four years ago, as the party's promise of large tax cuts appeared to have resonated with many voters.

Listhaug, a onetime firebrand who cites Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher as her role models, campaigned on what she said was wasteful public spending on areas such as international aid and subsidies to green energy.

Stoere welcomed the results, playing down any shift to the right. "This is a signal to outside Norway that social democracy can also win despite a right-wing wave," he told a crowd of Labor supporters chanting "four more years."

More than 4.05 million Norwegians were eligible to vote in this year's election, a record figure, according to Statistics Norway.

This year's key campaign debates focused on issues including inequality and taxation, energy policy, management of Norway's sovereign wealth fund, as well as housing and public services.

Norway holds parliamentary elections every four years. After the 2021 vote, Labor returned to power and formed a coalition government. However, earlier this year, the Centre Party quit the coalition over disagreements related to EU energy policy, leaving Labor to govern alone.

(With input from agencies)