No Clear Victor in Norway Election

OSLO, Norway (AP) - The ruling Labor Party suffered its worst election showing in 77 years Monday, with voters turning away from the architects of Norway's high-tax funded social welfare system.

With 94 percent of the vote counted, no party emerged with a majority in the legislature, setting off a scramble to forge alliances to possibly force the Labor government from power.

However, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said he was remaining in office until he could determine whether Labor has enough parliamentary influence to continue governing.

Election officials said Labor won 24 percent of the vote, its worst electoral showing since 1924. That would give it 43 seats in the 165-member parliament - down from 65 seats in the current legislature.

But parliament's non-socialist parties - including the Christian Democratic-led coalition and the Conservatives - appeared to win more than Labor and its socialist allies.

The Conservatives headed toward winning 38 seats, up from 22 in 1997, and the three-party Christian Democratic-led coalition was on course to win 34 seats, down from 42.

The right-wing Party of Progress had 26 seats, up from 20 four years ago, the Socialist Left had 23 seats and the Coast Party had one, according to the projections.

``It must be a demand for a change in government when the government party goes down 10 percentage points,'' said Kjell Magne Bondevik, a Christian Democratic former prime minister who hopes to form a moderate coalition.

Stoltenberg urged Bondevik to open talks with Labor, if his own coalition failed. But the Christian Democrat remained noncommittal, saying he wants a change of government.

``We will fight for a moderate coalition,'' Bondevik said. ``If that isn't possible, we will sit down and analyze the result and see what we can do. But we won't enter just any government at any price.''

The official tally won't be announced until Wednesday. After that, it could take weeks of political horse-trading to determine which parties - and which politicians - would form a government.

Advance voting in some townships began Sunday, and about 500,000 of the nation's roughly 3.3 million voters had sent in postal ballots.

``We are facing a political earthquake after the votes are counted tonight, if we believe the opinion polls,'' the Oslo newspaper Dagbladet said in an election day editorial about the forecasts of a plummeting vote for Labor.

Norwegians appear weary of paying high taxes - nearly 50 percent of their income, according to newspaper reports - but complain about shortcomings in the welfare state largely built up by Labor.

The government also hoards billions of dollars a year in surplus oil revenues in a national petroleum fund for foreign investment. Some opposition parties have called for using some of that wealth to ease taxes and shore up the public sector.

However, there is such broad agreement among the parties on key issues - economic, oil and foreign policy and NATO (news - web sites) membership - that few expect sweeping changes regardless of the outcome.

Foreign Minister Thorbjoern Jagland, who has said his Labor party may seek to form a coalition government for the first time in its 114-year history, appealed to the Christian Democrats for support if their own coalition fails.

Conservative leader Jan Petersen envisioned leading a coalition to oust Labor but is so far backed only by the Party of Progress, which he has rejected as a partner.

Since Norwegian law does not allow parliament to be dissolved and new elections called, the parties have to find some government that has a chance of ruling.

So it appears as if Norwegians moved a little to the right. The Coast party still only got one seat though. It looks like if the Conservatives, Christian Democrats and Party of Progress can build a coalition, the coalition will have 98 seats, a clear majority in the 165 seat parliament. But this follows Spain and Italy, so Europe might be moving a bit to the right. I'm not sure how these Norwegian parties stand, though. Sometimes, their right wing is like our Democrats and their left wing is like a bunch of socialists.

Norway is also a unique case: they've got only about 4 million people, sparsely populated, and they get a lot of money from oil revenues generated by Statoil, which is an oil company mostly owned by the government. Norway has a lot of oil off the coast in the North Sea. Norway also doesn't have an immigration problem: they don't let in many foreigners, unlike France and Germany, for instance. They are also not an EU Country.

the norwegian sheep are getting restless

it's always nice to see any labor/socialist/demorat/communist party take one on the chin

too bad poland looks to be going in the other direction for now

It looks like if the Conservatives, Christian Democrats and Party of Progress can build a coalition

I wouldn't bet on it, mainly because of the Party of Progress. Seen as a xenophobic party, none of the other parties _want_ to be associated with them.

I'm not sure how these Norwegian parties stand

You wouldn't be too upset with the Conservatives. As they would be the biggest partner in a right wing coalition, things might not be too bad.

Norway also doesn't have an immigration problem: they don't let in many foreigners

There have been more problems in recent years though. Some 6,3% of the population are immigrants.

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