By Satyaki Chakraborty
Norway rebuffed the surge of the far right political parties in European countries in the September 8 general elections by placing trust in the incumbent Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store whose Labour Party emerged again as the largest single political party with 48 seats in the 169 member Parliament. With the support of the other Left and green parties, Store is able to have a majority of 88 seats enough to run a minority government.
The major upshot of the Parliament elections 2025 was the decline in strength of the Conservative Party, the normal party of governance which came to occupy the third place below the right wing Progress Party which got 47 seats, close to the Labour’s tally. The results vindicate the trends of voters behaviour of other European countries where the far right is eroding the base of the moderate right. The Conservative Party base got eroded due to the increasing support received by PP for its anti-immigration policy.
In the 2021 Norwegian parliamentary election, the Labour Party emerged victorious, defeating the Conservative Party of Erna Solberg. After the elections, Jonas Gahr Store, the leader of the Labour Party, started talks about the formation of a new government with the Centre Party and Socialist Left Party. The Socialist Left Party backed down from negotiations due to disagreements over environmental and welfare policies. The Labour Party and the Centre Party then negotiated on forming a minority government, which was formalized in October 2021. Støre was sworn in as the prime minister of Norway on October 14, 2021. Throughout the existence of his cabinet, however, they relied on support from the Socialist Left Party.
Since 2021, Støre’s government saw changes due to resignations of several ministers. Hadia Tajik, the minister of labour and social inclusion, was the first to resign in March 2022 due to alleged tax fraud. She was succeeded as minister by Marte Mjøs Persen. A month later, Odd Roger Enoksen resigned as minister of defence after sexual harassment allegations. He was succeeded by Bjørn Arild Gram.
In January 2025, the Centre Party left the governing coalition over disagreements with the Labour Party on energy policy relating to the European Union, resulting in the first one-party government in 25 years. Eight cabinet ministers from the Centre Party were replaced, including Centre Party leader and minister of finance Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, who was succeeded by former Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
The election was held using party-list proportional representation in 19 multi-member constituencies based on the pre-2018 counties of Norway. The number of members to be returned from each constituency varies between 4 and 20. To determine the apportionment of the 169 seats amongst the 19 counties, a two-tier formula is used, based on population and geographic size. Each inhabitant counts one point, while each square kilometre counts 1.8 points. Each constituency is guaranteed 4 seats.
Norway is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, due in large part to its massive oil reserves. But just as important as the country’s oil has been the strong labour movement, which, beginning in the 1960s, ensured that oil profits flowed not into the pockets of the rich but into the coffers of the welfare state. Unlike other oil-rich states, Norway’s wealth was used to build a remarkably equal society, transforming the lives of working-class people in just one generation.
But recent years have seen social inequality rise in Norway as across Europe. A combination of economic crisis and government-mandated austerity have eaten away at the gains won by the post-war labour movement and hollowed out support for the traditional parties. This political and social malaise has largely benefited the forces of the Right. The far-right Progress Party is now polling almost neck and neck with the Labour Party — a force that traditionally governs Norway but has seen its support decline precipitously over recent decades.
To Labour’s left, however, a new competitor has emerged: Rødt, or the Red Party, which was formed in 2007 as a fusion of different communist and socialist currents. It has seen its support expand since entering Parliament in 2017. In 2025 general elections, Red Party got 8 seats Red Party supports the Labour government but fights for its own policies and resists the resurgence of the far right Progress Party..
In a recent interview to the U.S. leftwing news portal Jacobin, the Red MP Seher Aydar said that much like in other European countries, right wing populism in Norway is on the rise. While the centrists and the moderate right talk of combating the far right PP based on the same policies, the Red Party offers alternative programme to the Norway people to fight the far right.
On Ukraine war, the Red leader said “The war also affects us more because Russia is Norway’s neighbour, and that neighbour is now attacking another neighbouring country. We in Rødt oppose imperialism and aggression from wherever it comes from — Russia, the US, Israel, it doesn’t matter, we have a principled stance. Unfortunately, the other Norwegian parties don’t always abide by those same principles consistently, opposing some wars but not others.”
According to Red Party leader, “We see ourselves as the real party of the working class. Labor has become an establishment party that tries to strike a balance between different social groups. But the richest Norwegians are fighting hard for their interests, and you cannot just balance between them and everyone else — you must fight for the interests of the working class.
Of course, we would prefer for Labour to be stronger than the right-wing parties, but it’s not our job to make them stronger — our role is to push Labour to the left and to support the trade unions. I think we are already doing that job today.”
As the Labour Party is set to form its second consecutive government with Left group’s support, the Red Party is clear with its role to bring about a left wing shift to the politics of Norway by fighting more intensely for implementation of the pressing rights of the workers and the non-rich people of the tiny nation with only 5.6 million population. (IPA Service)
CPI’s Clarion Call To Defend Democracy In Danger 