Leadership shakeup in Norway as Labour experiences first election loss in century

The center-left Labour Party of Norway has lost regional elections to an opposition bloc made up of the national-conservative and center-right parties, a change in power dynamics not seen for almost a century in the Nordic country.

As reported by the Norwegian The Local publication, the Conservative party will begin talks with other parties on September 12 after the united bloc has secured a majority of 31 seats in Oslo as a result of local elections from September 11.

The right-wing opposition bloc consists of the Conservatives, headed by former Prime Minister Erna Solberg, the Liberal Party, the Progress Party and the Christian Democratic Party.

The conservatives (Høyre) managed to increase their voting share from 20.1% to 25.9% while the right-wing Progress party jumped from 3.1% to 11.4%. Although the party identifies itself as being classic-liberalists, it is the most right-wing faction represented in the Norwegian parliament.

This sobering electoral result, marking the first time in 99 years that the Labour party did not finish as the strongest party, does not change the allocation of seats in the parliament with Prime Minister Stoere vowing to continue to lead his minority coalition government.

Increasing consumer prices, including a 9% rise in the cost of food in the last 12 months and a jump in interest rates have had a heavy effect on households and led the government to restrain public spending for fear of accelerating inflation.