Oil-rich Norway's leftist gov't wins re-election in close vote

Norway’s left-leaning government narrowly won re-election after using oil money to shield the Nordic welfare state from the global recession, official results showed Tuesday.

Benefiting from a splintered opposition, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg’s Labor-led coalition became the first Norwegian government to survive an election in 16 years.
With 99.9 percent of votes counted, Stoltenberg’s three-party bloc had secured 86 seats to keep a slim majority in the 169-seat Parliament. The opposition won 83 seats, according to the initial count. A final tally was expected later this week.

Norway has escaped the financial crisis largely unscathed, partly by tapping into its oil- and gas-fueled sovereign wealth fund — currently valued at more than 2.4 trillion kroner ($400 billion). Unemployment stands at 3 percent — among the lowest in Europe.

Oil and gas pumped from North Sea platforms have made the fjord-fringed country of 4.8 million people one of the world’s richest nations. But that wealth also presents a challenge for sitting governments, who must balance the risk of overheating the domestic economy with Norwegians’ high demands on the cradle-to-grave welfare system.

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