Norway: Red-Green Coalition storms to victory (Darn!)

THIS IS NOT GOOD! In yesterday's parliamentary election, the people of Norway sacked the conservative coalition government of Prime Minister Kjell Bondedvik in favor of the Leftist "Red-Green Coalition", led by Jens Stoltenberg. The BBC described the Red-Greens as "centre-left", but I beg to differ. Of the three coalition parties, only the smallest, the Centre Party, is truly centrist. The largest party in the coalition, the Labor Party, is Social Democratic in ideology (one step short of Socialist); and the Socialist Left Party is a bunch of former communists.

Even more disturbing is the fact that the anti-immigration, far-right Progress Party won 37 seats in the legislature (up from 26), almost as many as all of the parties in the conservative coalition combined. This means that the radical Progress Party, not the more palatable Conservative and Christian Democrat parties, will now be seen as the voice of Norway's right-wing

So, the new political situation in Norway is this: The Socialists (albeit moderate Socialists) are in charge, and the largest opposition party is xenophobic. Not good at all!

Technorati Tags: Norway, Norway Election, Stoltenberg, Elections