David Nikel | Forbes.Com
On a night when several smaller parties are set for big gains in Norway’s nationwide local and county elections, some of the country’s biggest parties took a bruising. The first projected results show that all four governing parties lost votes, but it’s the main opposition Labour Party that are bracing themselves for a devastating result.
A new political landscape
“The fiery red thread is anger and protest. A dramatic signal that changes Norwegian politics,” said NRK’s politics correspondent Lars Nehru Sand, who described the overall results as Norway “giving the finger” to the establishment. VG said the vote leaves Norway with a new political landscape.
The agrarian Centre Party look set to beat three of the four ruling parties to finish a clear third place in the popular vote, while the Socialist Left and the far-left Red also made notable gains. Norway’s Green Party also recorded a major success. Their projected share of the vote is 6.7% in the local elections and 7.5% in the county elections, in both cases a rise of well over 50% from the last votes four years ago.
Despite the apparent success of the Green Party’s pro-environment campaign, there was also a significant backlash against road tolls in major cities. FNB, Norway’s protest party against road tolls, is projected to win influential numbers of seats on Bergen and Stavanger city councils with representation also in Oslo, a result set to temper the Green celebrations.
