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Norwegian Election

Left Gain at Expense of Right

Photo: Foto: Brage Aronsen
ISA Worldwide
Norway
ISA Norge

The left in the Norwegian elections have made strong progress due to their opposition to the increased class divisions, while the right wing have retreated. Now the left have to turn words into action

Thursday, 23 September 2021 09:44 (UTC)
Trond Sverre Kolltveit
ISA in Norway
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There is a strong left-wing wind blowing in Norway. Both parties to the left of social democracy, Socialist Left Party and Rødt increased their support, together reaching 12,3%. Arbeiderpartiet (Ap), Norway’s Social-Democratic Labour Party, has been described as the winner and will take over from the right wing government. However, winning 26.3% of the vote, Arbeiderpartiet has only had one worse election in almost 100 years.

Arbeiderpartiet tried to lean a little to the left in this election campaign, saying that they also want to do something about the widening inequalities. But voters remember the previous red-green government where Ap themself laid the foundations for much of the neoliberal policy.

Rødt, the Red Party, is the first new party to break the 4% barrier, and with 4.7% they increased from one to eight seats. It is a former Maoist party, now described as socialist and Marxist. It has a basis in some unions and in the capital Oslo where it gained 8.2%.

Rødt went to the polls to fight growing inequalities, free dental care and a fair green transition that does not hit industrial workers. Rødt gained 850 new members on election night alone, and a total of 1300 new members after a few days. Many former Ap voters have joined Rødt and they now have over 12,000 members. This underlines the left-wing spirit in Norway now and the desire for a socialist policy.

The Green Party was predicted to do very well in the election because of the climate crisis, but fell short. Many voters felt that the Green Party did not stand for a fair climate policy and that they were not concerned about other issues.

It was the growing class divisions that brought down the increasingly unpopular bourgeois government led by Høyre, Conservative party leader Erna Solberg. Opinion polls showed that the widening inequality was what voters were most concerned about in this election. Two out of three are against the growing inequality. Opposition is particularly strong among trade union members.

Class inequality in Norway is now on a par with the UK, and the government’s anti-social cuts of 43 billion over the last eight years have been felt by many. The cuts have affected children, the sick and the unemployed. At the same time, the government has given big tax breaks to the super rich. The Conservatives wanted to abolish wealth tax altogether, but backed down because of the strong opposition to the growing class differences. Child poverty is on the rise while the number of billionaires has quintupled in 15 years. This was the most important issue in the election campaign, but the climate crisis was also important to voters.

The ruling parties Høyre and Kristeligt Folkeparti (Christian Democrats) lost votes, while the Liberal Venstre managed to cross the barrier. The racist Fremskritt party, which left the government hoping for a boost, also fell back.

The Center Party is a bourgeois party that gained. It opportunistically supports the Red-Green side believing there is more to be gained by opposing centralisation and supporting good public services in the districts. But on many issues they are far from the Socialist Left Party (SV), including on climate policy. SV, as well as Rødt and the Greens, demand that the search for new oil fields is stopped, while the Center Party as well as Labour are close to the oil industry. Norway is the biggest oil producer in Western Europe with 160,000 directly employed in the industry.

The SV, Rødt and the Center Party, in contrast to Arbeiderpartiet, oppose agreements with the EU, which push for the privatisation of energy and railways and neoliberal policies.* Many Ap voters switched to these parties because of the pro-EU policies of AP. The government that has now lost the elections will still undemocratically sign the EU railway agreements.

The Center party said during the election campaign that they did not want SV in a new government. But at the end of the election campaign, they toned down their criticism. Most likely is a government with Arbeiderpartiet, the Socialist Left Party and the Center party. Together they have a majority, so they do not need to seek support from Rødt.

But the deal negotiated by such a coalition will go to a membership vote among SV members. In fact, there is a possibility that the members will vote down an agreement recommended by the leadership. The last time SV was AP’s junior partner in the government, their support declined sharply because of the government’s right-wing course. If the agreement is not good enough on the issues SV ran on, against the growing inequalities, moving from cuts to more resources in welfare and a fair climate policy, the members will have to vote it down. This gives opportunities to the historically strong group on the left in the Storting, if Rødt and SV cooperate as a clearly socialist opposition, linking up with struggles from workers and youth.

Rødt has stressed that the party is part of a grassroots movement against the growing class differences. Rødt must take this seriously. In order to push the government leftwards, the new left in the Storting must seek support in the growing movement and workers’ struggle outside the parliament against class divisions, against the cuts that have hit the unemployed and poor and for a fair climate policy.

The struggle for important reforms is closely linked to the struggle for socialism. Only a socialist policy, for a socialist society, can finally secure the reforms we can win today through hard class struggle and mass mobilisation.

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Left Gain at Expense of Right (23 Sep 2021)

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