Red-Green Coalition (Norway)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Norway
This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Norway

Constitution Monarchy King Harald V Crown Prince Haakon Government Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg Government Red-Green Coalition Parliament Storting Political parties Politicians (category) Elections 2007 local 2005 parliamentary 2003 county Local Gov't Counties (Fylker) Municipalities (Kommuner) Sámi Parliament Foreign policy Foreign relations European Union relations
Other countries · Atlas Politics Portal view • talk • edit

The Red-Green Coalition is a coalition of Norwegian parties, formed by the Labour, the Socialist Left Party, and the Centre Party. It was established in 2005 to constitute a strong alternative to the centre-right government of Kjell Magne Bondevik, and won the Norwegian parliamentary election, 2005.

The coalition fared well in the 2005 parliamentary elections, winning a slight majority of seats, and a majority government among the parties was agreed upon, the first majority government in Norway since 1985. It replaced the Bondevik government on October 17, 2005. However, the three parties taking part in the coalition have different views on several important issues [1], and there were tough negotiations at Soria Moria in Oslo to put their differences aside in order to reach a common platform.

The victory is a historical landmark for a number of reasons. The Labour Party has never been a member of a coalition government, except for a short interim at the end of World War II. The Socialist Left Party has never participated in any government, and historically they have not been very willing to cooperate with Labour. In addition, the Centre Party is co-operating with the left wing of Norwegian politics for the first time, having previously formed governments with both the Conservatives and the Christian Democrats on several occasions.

A good relationship between the leader of Labour, Jens Stoltenberg, and of the Socialist Party, Kristin Halvorsen, has been a major factor in order to form the alliance. Halvorsen is considered as more pragmatic and moderate than some of her old-guard comrades; the Socialist Party was established in the early 1960s as an ideological opponent to Labour's foreign policy, and it was the main opponent to NATO membership. After the September 2005 election, some old members have criticised Halvorsen for being too benign towards Labour.

Opponents of the Red-Green Coalition sometimes refer to this coalition by other names. Conservatives, the Christian Democrats, Liberals and the Progress party usually call it a socialist coalition, even though only one of the involved coalition partners calls itself socialist. The Red Electoral Alliance feels that "red" is not a descriptive colour for this coalition and therefore uses "pale red". Similarly, The Green Party and the Liberals (Venstre) claim that these three parties do not deserve the green colour.