NORWAY: Norway's left-of-centre opposition looked set to oust the centre-right government of Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik in an election yesterday after promising to spend more oil revenues on welfare, exit polls showed.
Three polls issued soon after voting ended at 8pm showed the so-called "Red-Green" alliance, headed by Labour party leader Jens Stoltenberg (46), would win a narrow majority in the 169-seat parliament.
The polls were greeted by thunderous applause at Labour's election headquarters while Mr Bondevik declined to comment.
However, the majorities forecast by the polls were so narrow that deputy Labour leader Hill Marta Solberg said it would be "nerve-racking" until official results came in at about midnight.
The centre-right has lost popularity despite Norway being rated by the UN as the best country to live in every year since Mr Bondevik took power 2001.
Norway is the third largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and Russia, making its 4.6 million people among the wealthiest in the world.
Labour, which accuses Mr Bondevik of giving the rich too large a share of oil revenues in the form of tax cuts, was expected to win 85-87 seats, against 80-83 for the centre right and its far-right allies in the anti-immigrant Progress party.
Labour was last in power from 2000 to 2001. Declining support in recent years has forced it to seek allies in the Centre party and the Socialist Left, which calls the US the "greatest threat to world peace" and is against Norway's NATO membership. - (Reuters)