Blog 3: Norwegian Elections

The New York Times has a story about the Norwegian elections. I thought it was interesting to see how a country with "one of the world’s most advanced social welfare models, which has weathered the global financial crisis with nary a wobble" even has its own issues when going to the polls.

From the story:
"Many voters had already told pollsters that they were weary of the high taxes and open-door asylum policies they have associated with Mr. Stoltenberg’s so-called red-green government of laborites, socialists and agrarians."


"A right-leaning majority in Parliament, however, would not necessarily end the reign of Mr. Stoltenberg, whose Labor Party has set the agenda for Norwegian politics over the past six decades and whose current government has been in power since 2005. That is because the political right, with four main parties, is in chaos."

"Analysts said they had trouble pinpointing why Mr. Stoltenberg was struggling despite the relative buoyancy of Norway’s economy, with its stock market rising and its unemployment rate hovering at 3 percent, among the lowest in Europe. But in recent decades, voters here have consistently turned out sitting governments, whatever the state of the economy."

The pools close tonight, so we'll see the results soon, although I am not sure the US media will really follow up this particular election.