Norway’s conservative parties top a new public opinion poll released this week in the midst of the country’s largest political and social gathering of the year. The Conservative Party itself still draws the most support, with 24.5 percent of the vote, and could claim a majority in Parliament along with its allies if the poll was an election result.
The poll was released Wednesday as top politicians and thousands of others gathered in the coastal city of Arendal for the annual Arendalsuka. It’s a week-long political festival of sorts where the elite mingle not only with one another but also with journalists, hundreds of organizations, local residents and a long list of other civic leaders and newsmakers.
This year’s gathering is the largest ever, with more than 2,000 events and as many as 160,000 participants. That’s up from 50 events when Arendalsuka was first held in 2012.
“It’s not our ambition to just be bigger, but to have good debates that can lead to new solutions to our challenges,” said Tone Skindlo Taraldsen, project leader for the huge event that has no admission charges and runs through Thursday.
Arendalsuka traditionally ends Thursday night with a nationally televised debate among the leaders of all parties currently represented in Parliament. That makes the new poll, conducted by research firm Norstat for state broadcaster NRK and newspaper Aftenposten, highly relevant and a scorecard of sorts for the parties currently holding government power in Norway.
They’re still not doing as well as the conservative side, with Labour holding just 20 percent of the vote and its government partner, the Center Party, holding 6.4 percent. The numbers have improved since Labour’s and Støre’s unpopularity in office plunged to the mid-teens after winning the last election in 2021 with 26.3 percent. Labour’s current result is nonetheless down two points from the last NRK/Aftenposten poll, and the Center Party remains stuck in the single-digits (6.4 percent) since winning a spot in government with 13.5 percent three years ago.
“Our goal is clear,” Progress Party leader Sylvi Listhaug told NRK after the poll results were released. “We want to have a Progress- and Conservatives government. We have good experience with that from earlier (when the two parties held power from 2013 to 2021, also with the Liberal and Christian Democrat parties).”
Voters seem to have forgiven opposition and Conservatives leader Erna Solberg for not being aware that her husband, Sindre Finnes, was actively trading and profiting on stock market deals that left her dealing with conflicts of interest. The scandal inspired a new film due to premier in September of next year, just when the next national election will be held.
Solberg, who was prime minister when her husband was busy in the stock market, has hung on as her party’s leader and will again be facing current Labour Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in debate Thursday night, along with all the other party leaders. She’s gained on the unpopularity of Støre’s government, especially its tax hikes, and he’s been on the defensive for months. Aftenposten reported this week that he’s now making a concerted effort to attract younger voters with a new profile on the controversial social media platform Tiktok. Solberg is already there, along with most politicians, but using special telephones because of national security concerns since Tiktok originated in China.
The numbers in the new poll varied from those in another recent poll conducted by research firm Norfakta for newspapers Klassekampen and Nationen. Solberg’s Conservatives (Høyre) were still biggest, though, with 26.4 percent of the vote, while Labour (Arbeiderpartiet) was smaller at just 18.5 percent. Center (Senterpartiet) was almost the same, with 6.3 percent of the vote, while Progress (Fremskrittspartiet) held 15.4 percent.
The Socialist Left Party (SV), on which Labour and Center rely for a majority in Parliament, held 7.9 percent in this week’s poll but 11.3 percent in the earlier one. The left-wing Reds held 6.1- and 5.6 percent respectively while the Liberals held 5.8- and 4.8, and the Greens held just 3.9- and 4.2 percent. The Greens have lost thousands of voters, often blamed on how the party’s battle against private cars has made life difficult for many around the country and especially in Oslo.
Tove Sofie Aglen, political commentator for NRK, doesn’t think voters have changed their opinions much over the course of the summer. “While there’s been quantum leaps in American politics, Norwegian politics are remarkably the same as before summer,” Aglen wrote on Wednesday. She thinks economic issues will continue to dominate the political debate, along with rising crime among youth, health- and elder care and who, simply, seems best-suited to lead the country. The Progress Party may be the “joker” in the end, with some even wondering whether Listhaug could emerge next year as prime minister in a new conservative government.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
