The last time that Høyre was in government was from 2001 to 2005, in partnership with KrF (the Christian People's Party) and Venstre (Left). Even though Høyre won the most votes of the three, they did not get the Prime Minister post. The current government is a center-left coalition consisting of AP (the Labour Party), SV (the Socialist Left Party), and SP (The Center Party).
On the right side of the Norwegian political spectrum, there is an ongoing controversy about wether or not the different parties are willing to enter a coalition partnership with FrP (the Progress Party), a populistic party on the right side led by party foreman Siv Jensen. Erna Solberg of Høyre (pictured) has recently been expressing that the rightist parties should - and need to - cooperate with FrP to be able to present a viable alternative to the current center-left government. Lars Sponheim of Venstre, on the other hand, is adamantly opposed to any institutionalised cooperation with FrP, and KrF is also lukewarm to the idea.
FrP has never been in government, but sees its opening now, in partnership with the other parties on the right. Considering that FrP is getting rates of around 25% on some opinion polls (26.5% in March), it might be difficult to see how the other rightist parties could get enough votes to form a government without FrP. Solberg might be very right in saying that the other parties need to cooperate with FrP if they want to form a government. Their choice, then, might be whether they want to govern with FrP or not govern at all - at least not yet.
As I have expressed before, I am not comfortable with the idea of FrP in government. Of course, one might think that the populism might give way to more responsible policies when the party actually needs to stand behind all it´s proposals. Still, as much as I would like to see a rightist coalition in government, I am really in doubt if I would rather not see one at all than to see one in which FrP is a major partner - which it inevitably would be if in government.
If Høyre and FrP would form a government, they would - according to the beforementioned opinion poll, get 43.9% of the votes. If all the parties on the right except FrP would form a government, they would get 30.0%. That would probably not be enough to form a stable government - my bet is that FrP would do anything in their power to destabilise a rightist government they had been excluded from. It is really sad to see that we have a party like FrP that is in fact destroying any prospect for a responsible and stable rightist government in Norway.
The current government is not a disaster for Norway. But I think that a right-of-center government (without FrP) would be better for Norway. It would be more business-friendly, more sympathetic to privatisation, and more able to increase Norway´s competitiveness internationally.
To be continued...
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