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Jonas Gahr Støre
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Javad Parsa / EPA
There are signs of a change of government in Norway: According to initial projections, the Social Democratic Labor Party became the strongest force in the parliamentary elections.
The party around its chairman Jonas Gahr Støre got around 26 percent of the vote, as the first, preliminary figures from the electoral authority showed on Monday evening a few minutes after the polling stations closed.
The conservative Høyre party of Prime Minister Erna Solberg, who has been in power for eight years, slumped to around 20 percent.
It looks like Støre will be the next head of government.
If it stays that way, it would mean losses for both parties compared to the last parliamentary election four years ago - but significantly higher for Høyre.
Several smaller parties, however, were able to gain, as did the Center Party of the third candidate for the office of head of government, Trygve Slagsvold Vedum: It was initially around 14 percent, which put it in third place and just under two percentage points ahead of the right-wing populist Progressive Party.
Surveys had already indicated a change of government
The polls before the election had long indicated a change of government in the non-EU country.
In order to be able to form a majority in the 169-seat Norwegian parliament in Storting, the future head of government will have to rely on several coalition partners.
According to the extrapolated figures, it could be enough for a slim majority of what is considered to be the most likely center-left alliance, which consists of the Social Democrats as well as the Center Party and the Socialist Left Party.
The preliminary election result is expected on Tuesday
If this triumvirate does not achieve this, Støre could also be dependent on the support of the Greens (around 4 percent) and the Red Party (around 5 percent).
But minority governments are also not uncommon in Scandinavia.
In Denmark and Sweden, for example, Støre's social democratic party colleagues Mette Frederiksen and Stefan Löfven also rule without a clear majority of their own.
Solberg has also led Norway with a minority government since the beginning of 2020 after the right-wing populists left the coalition.
Almost 3.9 million Norwegians were called to vote in the election.
Almost 1.65 million voters had already voted early - that was more than 42 percent of all eligible voters.
The first projections were based on these votes and a mathematical model.
A preliminary election result is expected on Tuesday.
ngo / dpa / afp
