Norway is voting on Monday to elect its next parliament in what is expected to be a close race between a centre-left bloc led by the incumbent Labour Party and a centre-right bloc dominated by the populist Progress Party and Conservatives.
Among the issues that could decide the vote are inequality and taxation, as well as growing controversy surrounding Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, which is facing scrutiny domestically and internationally over its investment in companies tied to Israel, amid the war on Gaza.
Until recently, maintaining the status of the $2 trillion investment vehicle as “non-political” was a key tenet of the country’s sovereign wealth fund – the world’s biggest – which was set up in the early 1990s to manage the surplus revenue from North Sea oil sales.
The question now is how the controversy will play out at the ballot box, and whether threats of US retaliation will translate into concrete action.
