Exit Polls: Norway votes for change

September 12, 2005

Exit polls from four different news sources have given the opposition, a centre-left bloc led by Jens Stoltenberg of the Labour party an early lead. However, early prognoses still show the election as too close to call.

If elected, Stoltenberg will replace Kjell Magne Bondevik as Prime Minister. Bondevik, a former priest, has for the last four years led a centre-right coalition government consisting of the Conservative Party (H), the Christian People's Party (KrF) and the Liberal Democrats (V).

Prime minister Kjell Magne Bondevik (Christian Democrat) is currently in government with his triparty coalition with the Conservatives and the Liberals. The polls during the last months have shown that the opposition, led by the Labour party has had a majority behind it, but during the last few days, the polls have shown a trend towards favouring the ruling coalition. On election day, polls show more or less a tie.