Support for Labour Party plummets (Aftenposten)

21.1 per cent. That is what the Labour Party scores in Aftenposten’s latest poll by market researchers, Opinion. This represents a dramatic slump in support for the party. The shock result has been greeted with disbelief. The Christian Democrats and the Centre Party are still gaining ground, while the Conservative slide continues. The Conservatives now have 21.8 percent of the vote. The Socialist Left Party and the Coastal Party continue to win support. If this were the election result, none of the declared government alternatives would be close to having a majority in the Storting.

Stoltenberg: We will not cling to power (Aftenposten)

"This is not good. We are not happy about this. This represents a sharp swing away from Labour. But there are still 1.3 million voters who have not made up their minds yet. Our campaign must focus on getting most of these people to vote Labour. I have chosen not to put a figure on anything, but we will not cling to power in the face of a poor election result," said Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.

Labour leaders divided over post-election strategy (Dagbladet)

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg and party chairman Thorbjørn Jagland have completely different views on whether the Government should resign if Labour wins less than 30 per cent of the vote. From what Dagbladet has learned, Mr Jagland’s view remains that the Labour government must resign if the party does as badly as today’s opinion polls suggest. However, Dagbladet understands that Mr Stoltenberg wants to take a look the post-election parliamentary situation and let that be the deciding factor, rather than basing a decision about whether Labour should resign from office on a specific percentage figure.

Election could give parliamentary majority opposed to EU membership (Nationen)

Today’s opinion polls put an application for EU membership out of the question for the next four years. At the moment it looks as though a majority of those elected to the new Storting will be opposed to EU membership. The Socialist Left Party looks set to become the largest anti-EU party, and chairman Kristin Halvorsen has warned she will fight against further adaptation of Norwegian legislation to EU regulations. When the local opinion polls had been aggregated yesterday, the figures indicated 77 MPs opposed to EU membership, 75 in favour and five who have not yet made up their minds or who have not replied to the survey of candidates carried out by the organization, No to the EU.

Campaign sparks interest rate trouble (Dagsavisen)

Costly promises to create more nursery places, cut the cost of pre-school childcare, renovate school buildings and implement massive tax cuts have dominated the election campaign. A number of economists are now warning that increased spending of the country’s oil revenues will ruin any chance of lowering interest rates next year. Stein Reegård, senior economist at the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, feels the campaign has had a damaging effect on interest rates, regardless of the final outcome of the election. According to Mr Reegård this is because all the parties have made so many promises that it will be impossible to prevent the economy from heating up.

Salary shocker (Dagbladet)

The salary gap between men and women is almost as large today as it was 25 years ago. On average women earn only around half as much per year as men. Kristin Clemet, deputy chief executive of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry (NHO), is unhappy that the difference between men and women’s pay levels is so large. "We want more women in the private sector. One of the reasons why women come off worse than men is that they chose jobs in the public services," said Ms Clemet.

Doctors refuse to send patients abroad (Aftenposten)

Norwegian doctors are refusing to send their patients abroad for treatment. Half of the NOK 1 billion which the Storting allocated for this purpose will remain unused this year. "We see that part of the medical profession rejects treatment abroad without even asking their patients if they would like the option. Many patients contact us because they are interested in going abroad for treatment. It is deplorable that Norwegian doctors do not give their patients a chance," said Dagfinn Høybråten, head of the National Insurance Administration.

NOK 100 billion in oil tax (Dagens Næringsliv)

For the first time ever the Government will rake in over NOK 100 billion in oil taxes this year. Twenty-six oil companies will today receive a letter from the Oil Tax Office requesting them to pay NOK 101 billion in tax advances for 2001. This is NOK 24.5 billion more than last year. The companies’ own estimates of the average price of oil in the second-half and the expected dollar exchange rate are among the factors which the Oil Tax Office uses to calculate its demand for tax advances each autumn.

Worth Noting

• Parliamentary chaos after the election could pave the way for a "crisis compromise". The Labour Party, the Christian Democrats and now the Centre Party are all unwilling to rule out a coalition composed of the three parties. (Dagsavisen)
• The banks’ interest rate experts take the promises made during the election campaign with a pinch of salt and believe the parties will moderate their tone when next year’s national budget is negotiated. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• According to the Conservatives, free trade will help the world’s poor. But a recent report from the Foreign Ministry shows that this is not the case. Among other things the report concludes that for the world’s 48 poorest countries the maximum benefit to prices achievable through free trade is less than the cut in development aid proposed by the Conservative Party. (Vårt Land)
• A throng of journalists from the world’s press was on hand yesterday as the Norwegian cargo ship, Tampa, arrived in Singapore. The crew could have done without all the fuss. "This is a situation they do not want. They do not think the situation is at all diverting," said Hans Christian Bangsmoen, head of corporate communications at the shipping line, Wilh. Wilhelmsen, last night. (Dagbladet)
• Labour and Government Administration Minister Jørgen Kosmo is offering generous terms to government employees who are affected by reforms in the public service sector. They stand to get three years’ paid study leave, loans on advantageous terms and severance pay. The extra benefits are the result of negotiations with the employees. (Aftenposten)
• The state-owned power generator, Statkraft, is planning to become a major player in the European gas market. The company aims to use its experience in the electricity market to capture a share of the deregulated European gas market. (Aftenposten)
• Foreign institutional investors picked up three-quarters of Kjell Inge Røkke’s 20.8 million Orkla shares. Orkla’s share price has risen by almost five per cent since the sale. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Shock figures published yesterday show that the number of rapes reported to the police in Oslo has risen by 40 per cent from 1999 to 2000. For the first time the police have categorized the alleged rapists according to their ethnicity. The statistics show that as many as 65 per cent of those accused of rape come from non-Western countries. (Dagbladet)

Today’s comment from Dagbladet and Dagsavisen

The Norwegian Football Association (NFF) has rejected a NOK 247 million offer from NRK and TV2 for the rights to screen football matches in Norway over the next four years. The NFF is demanding an incredible NOK 400 million. The result could be that from next year a large proportion of the population will not be able to watch Norwegian football. Football is far and away the largest leisure pursuit in Norway, not least for children and young people. The NFF’s leadership cannot have understood the gamble they taken with regard to the country’s two nationwide TV channels. It is one thing that the NFF is willing to let down the hundreds of thousands of people who love the sport, it is something else again that the enormity of the financial demands made by organization’s leaders shows a commercialized outlook which is anything but a good role model for the youth of this country. The NFF has almost no political backing for its historic move. But there is still time to reconsider. No agreements have yet been signed. NRK and TV2 will not be making any new offer, nor should they. There is a limit to how much of our national TV resources should be ploughed into football. The sport is simply not that important.