Norway goes to the polls with the future of its oil and gas industry in play

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Norway goes to the polls with the future of its oil and gas industry in play

Small but fast-growing Green party, which is demanding an immediate halt to gas and oil exploration, seen as potential kingmaker

Jon Henley in Oslo
Sunday 10 September 2017 16.11 BST

When Truls Gulowsen began campaigning in the 1990s, telling Norway it had both a moral obligation and an economic interest in phasing out the industry that has made it rich was not what might be called a vote winner.

But as Norwegians go to the polls on Monday, the future of their country’s giant oil and gas business is a major electoral issue – with parties that back curbs or even a shutdown of the industry set to play a key role in post-election coalition-building.

“The public mood has changed,” said Gulowsen, who heads Greenpeace Norway. “Something’s really happening. For the first time, our national dependency on oil, our responsibility as oil pushers to the rest of the world, are real questions.”

Pollsters predict an election thriller, with a rightwing bloc headed by the outgoing Conservative prime minister, Erna Solberg, and a leftwing opposition grouping led by the Labour party leader, Jonas Gahr Støre, separated by only a handful of points.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/10/norway-goes-polls-future-oil-gas-industry-green-party-kingmaker

[OnDoutside]

1. Bizarre.