Norway Elects a Conservative as Its Premier, LONDON — A little more than two years after a far-right, anti-immigrant militant killed 77 people, many of them teenagers, Norwegian voters ousted their center-left government on Monday, paving the way for the conservative leader, Erna Solberg, to assemble a governing coalition that may include an anti-immigration party.
Ms. Solberg, 52, a former Girl Scout leader nicknamed “Iron Erna,” will be Norway’s first conservative leader since 1990 and its second female prime minister.
“We will give this country a new government,” Ms. Solberg said after Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg conceded defeat.
The campaign had been centered largely on economic issues, like extending already generous welfare payments (Labor) versus cutting taxes and privatizing hospitals (Conservatives). But the massacre on the island of Utoya, where Anders Behring Breivik attacked youth members of the Labor Party on July 22, 2011, was never far from the surface.
Mr. Stoltenberg, whose pledge after the attack for “more democracy, more openness and more humanity” won him praise at the time, saw his party’s standing decline after a commission on Norway’s preparedness for terrorist attacks reported last year that the massacre could have been avoided if security protocol had been followed properly.
In a twist that is causing unease in parts of the country, the Progress Party, to which Mr. Breivik once belonged, could be a kingmaker in the coming coalition talks. The party could enter government for the first time.
Ms. Solberg has said she would be prepared to enter a coalition with Progress, which somewhat toned down its anti-immigrant oratory.
With 97 percent of the vote counted, Ms. Solberg’s Conservatives, Progress and two small center-right parties were on course to obtain 96 seats in Parliament, 11 more than needed for a majority.
Mr. Stoltenberg and his allies looked set to win only 72 seats.
Mark Lewis contributed reporting from Stavanger, Norway.
Ms. Solberg, 52, a former Girl Scout leader nicknamed “Iron Erna,” will be Norway’s first conservative leader since 1990 and its second female prime minister.
“We will give this country a new government,” Ms. Solberg said after Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg conceded defeat.
The campaign had been centered largely on economic issues, like extending already generous welfare payments (Labor) versus cutting taxes and privatizing hospitals (Conservatives). But the massacre on the island of Utoya, where Anders Behring Breivik attacked youth members of the Labor Party on July 22, 2011, was never far from the surface.
Mr. Stoltenberg, whose pledge after the attack for “more democracy, more openness and more humanity” won him praise at the time, saw his party’s standing decline after a commission on Norway’s preparedness for terrorist attacks reported last year that the massacre could have been avoided if security protocol had been followed properly.
In a twist that is causing unease in parts of the country, the Progress Party, to which Mr. Breivik once belonged, could be a kingmaker in the coming coalition talks. The party could enter government for the first time.
Ms. Solberg has said she would be prepared to enter a coalition with Progress, which somewhat toned down its anti-immigrant oratory.
With 97 percent of the vote counted, Ms. Solberg’s Conservatives, Progress and two small center-right parties were on course to obtain 96 seats in Parliament, 11 more than needed for a majority.
Mr. Stoltenberg and his allies looked set to win only 72 seats.
Mark Lewis contributed reporting from Stavanger, Norway.
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