Party of the prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, likely to remain in government but results show surge in support for rightwing Progress party
The Norwegian Labour party looked likely to remain in government as polls closed on Monday night, as preliminary results showed the centre-left had a narrow lead after a polarised election that saw a surge of support for the populist right.
With 75% of the vote counted, state broadcaster NRK projected the centre left would win with 89 seats and that the centre right would take 80 seats. A minimum of 85 seats are needed for a majority.
“It’s very close, but the centre-left is in the lead,” Johannes Bergh, the research director and principal investigator at the Norwegian national election studies programme at the Institute for Social Research, said after polls closed at 9pm local time. But, he added: “The Progress party is doing very well.”
According to forecasts, Labour, led by the prime minister, Jonas Gahr Størehad clearly emerged as the largest party, but they also showed a big swell in support for the Progress party, which was projected to have doubled in size in the last four years.
