By Terje Solsvik
OSLO (Reuters) -At least nine political parties are expected to win seats in Norway’s September 7-8 parliamentary election, but only three leaders are candidates for prime minister. The following party heads are vying for the top job in what is expected to be a close-fought race to lead the government:
LABOUR PARTY LEADER JONAS GAHR STOERE
Labour Party leader Stoere, 65, is the incumbent prime minister and has been in office since 2021 as head of a left-wing minority government. Labour is narrowly favoured to stay in power after the election, opinion polls show.
In 2021 Labour and two smaller centre-left support parties unseated a Conservative-led coalition, but the prime minister has struggled while in office with high inflation and interest rates that drove up the cost of living.
In early 2025 Stoere overcame a rebellion within his own party by reshuffling the cabinet, naming as finance minister his close friend and ally Jens Stoltenberg, a popular former NATO chief and ex-prime minister.
The move boosted Labour’s chances of staying in power, but polls show the election could leave Stoere dependent on as many as four smaller left-leaning parties in parliament, up from two currently, making it harder to govern.
PROGRESS PARTY LEADER SYLVI LISTHAUG
Listhaug, 47, a former public relations consultant, heads the Progress Party, a right-wing populist group campaigning for large tax cuts, a sharp reduction in immigration and tougher punishment for criminals.
She held five different ministerial posts between 2013 and 2020 when Progress served as a junior partner in a Conservative-led coalition government, including the agriculture, justice and energy posts.
Listhaug drew widespread condemnation and was forced to resign from the cabinet in 2018 when she said in a Facebook post about crime and immigration that the then-opposition Labour Party had put the rights of terrorists ahead of national security.
She returned to the cabinet in 2019 after a 14-month absence and was elected head of Progress in 2021.
CONSERVATIVE PARTY LEADER ERNA SOLBERG
Solberg, 64, was prime minister from 2013 to 2021 and has been Conservative Party chief for over two decades. She is waging an uphill battle for a government comeback, hoping to lead a bloc of four parties on the centre-right, including Progress.
While the Conservatives are lagging Progress in the polls, Solberg argues that her party’s profile makes her a better fit to attract the centrist voters needed to oust Labour’s left-wing bloc.
Campaigning on a platform of tax cuts, better schools and public sector reform, she hopes to overcome negative publicity from media revelations in 2023 that her husband was a frequent stock market trader during her time in office.
Solberg said she was unaware of the trading at the time and that, if she had known, she would have recused herself from several government decisions. A police review of her husband’s case found nothing illegal in the stock trades.
(Reporting by Terje SolsvikEditing by Frances Kerry)
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