Conservatives Win the Parliamentary Elections in Norway

The Conservative Party won the Norwegian parliamentary elections.  Conservative Erna Solberg will be the next Prime Minister of Norway.  Together with three center-right parties with which they are allied, the Conservative-led coalition gained a majority of seats in the Norwegian Parliament, despite the fact that the party came in second place to the center-left Labour Party in the popular vote with less than 27%, according to the Financial Times. 

The victory by the center-right ends 8 years of rule by the center-left.  It is the first Conservative win in 24 years.  The party may form a coalition with a populist right-wing government and two centrist allies or possibly form a minority government.

The Conservative platform was to sell off state assets and use some of its considerable oil funds to upgrade infrastructure and to cut taxes, while boosting spending for health care and education, the Financial Times reports.

Norway has been a staunch ally of the United States in the War on Terrorism.  

Together with the results from the Australian parliamentary elections, these results suggest that the global rightward shift that I have posted about continues.