Labor tries to stem Norway shift to right

By Doug Mellgren, Associated Press, 9/12/2001

SLO - Shaken by its worst election showing since 1924, Norway's ruling Labor Party scrambled yesterday to keep power out of the hands of the now powerful political right.

Labor clung to power, saying it saw no viable alternative to governing after a backlash by voters angry about high taxes and public service shortages despite unprecedented prosperity for the Scandinavian nation.

But riches were part of the party's problem.

Norway sets aside billions of dollars a year in an oil fund for foreign investment. Labor fears that investing the money at home could overheat the economy.

Opposition parties portrayed Labor as miserly during the campaign, squeezing taxes out of Norwegians at one of Europe's highest rates while amassing wealth.

Rivals called for tax cuts, using more of the oil wealth to solve shortages in health, child, and elderly care among other problems.

''I voted for Labor in the past, but I think they have let us down on all fronts, so I wanted to try something different,'' said Jan Larsen, a truck driver from Oslo.

Labor remained the largest party after Monday's parliamentary elections, with 43 seats in the 165-member Parliament, a stunning decline from the 65 seats it held after the last parliamentary elections, in 1997.

But the nonsocialist opposition gained a majority of 88 seats and was building alliances that could oust Labor.

Moderate Christian Democrat Kjell Magne Bondevik holds the key to which bloc will rule.

Frank Aarebrot, a political analyst, said Labor hopes Bondevik's Christian Democrats will support the current government rather than be allied with the antitax, anti-immigration Party of Progress, which won 26 seats.

The Conservatives want to form a coalition with the Christian Democrats and may pick Bondevik as prime minister, he said.

Bondevik and Conservative leader Jan Petersen say ''no'' to a coalition with the Progress Party, which has indicated it would support a Conservative coalition.

A final election count was expected today. Turnout was about 74 percent, the lowest since 1945.

This story ran on page A24 of the Boston Globe on 9/12/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.