Fjordman: Hagen won't back Bondevik

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Hagen won't back Bondevik

Hagen won't back Bondevik

Carl I Hagen, long a force to be reckoned with in Norwegian politics, said Monday his Progress Party won't support a new non-socialist government if Kjell Magne Bondevik re-emerges as its prime minister. Party officials in Bondevik's current coalition government, clearly hoping the voters will let them continue, are fuming. Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, who enjoys little support among the general population in Norway, was in Moscow on Monday when Hagen launched what Solberg called an "attack." "Unreasonable and naughty," scoffed Erna Solberg, leader of the Conservative Party, the one some see as most logical to team up with Hagen's generally even more conservative party after the election. Solberg, however, has publicly rebuffed attempts to get the two parties together. It remains a big question just who will govern Norway after the national election on September 12. The most likely socialist- and non-socialist coalitions, with Labour and the Socialist Left on the one side and the current Bondevik-led coalition on the other, appear to be running neck and neck. Party constellations can change dramatically, however, and Hagen's populist Progress Party will play a major role in who finally wins power. That's because his party currently ranks as the second-largest in the country.

Hagen: The end of Bondevik

The leader of the right-wing Progress Party, Carl I.Hagen, on Monday said that his party would not support a new non-socialist government under Kjell Magne Bondevik as prime minister, following the upcoming elections. The reason for this, Hagen said was Bondevik's refusal to enter into a closer cooperation with the Progress Party. -Kjell Magne Bondevik is therefore the foremost obstacle to a more formalized cooperation on the non-socialist front, Hagen said. Leaders of the three parties in Bondevik's current coalition government all denounced what they termed a personal attack by Hagen on the Prime Minister.

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A new poll of Aftenposten's voter panel reveals that Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik's Christian Democrat Party is increasingly unpopular, and is only surpassed by the populist Progress Party in sparking negative reactions.

Socialist alliance still eyes majority in Norway polls

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