Norway's prime minister hands in resignation

March 10, 2000
Web posted at: 5:52 a.m. EST (1052 GMT)

From staff and wire reports

OSLO, Norway (CNN) -- Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik went to King Harald V's palace on Friday and handed in his resignation, the morning after his minority coalition government lost a vote of confidence in parliament.

The king promptly asked Lens Stoltenberg, of the opposition Labor Party, to form a new government. Stoltenberg tentatively accepted.

"I have agreed to investigate whether I can form a Labor government," he told reporters after meeting with Harald.

Bondevik's departure came after an opposition majority ignored his objections and voted 81-71 in favor of building Norway's first natural gas-fired power plant.

The coalition government wanted to delay construction until new technology allows more environmentally friendly plants.

Norway now produces most of its electricity from hydroelectric power, which produces no atmospheric emissions.

Bondevik's government says its position is supported by European Union regulations and Norwegian pollution laws.

But the Labor Party and opposition politicians insisted that regulations be changed to allow for the construction, a stand that led to the confidence vote.

The opposition politicians contend the gas-fired plants would slow Norway's dependence on imported electricity from Denmark, which is generated from even more polluting coal-fired plants.

Many political observers compare Stoltenberg, 40 -- the modern- minded, media-friendly son of a former foreign minister -- to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

He is expected to take several days trying to put together a minority government. Labor is the biggest party in parliament, with 65 of 165 seats.

But Stoltenberg did not receive a warm reception from voters after Labor and the opposition Conservatives defeated the Bondevik government.

The daily newspaper Dagbladet said "Shock start for Jens" in the headline to an opinion poll showing that 29 percent thought Stoltenberg would be a worse prime minister than Bondevik. Only 19 percent thought he would do a better job, while 42 percent thought he would be neither better nor worse.

Morten Overbye of CNN Norge and Reuters contributed to this report.

Norway's government resigns after losing power plant vote
March 9, 2000
Norwegian teen's home raided by police
January 25, 2000
Norwegian correspondent charged as East German spy
January 21, 2000
17 confirmed dead in Norwegian train crash
January 6, 2000
City Guides: Norway

The European Union
International Energy Outlook 1999 - Natural Gas
U.S. Y2K Information Center: Energy
World Bank: Energy
Uranium Institute
Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections - Norway
CIA -- The World Factbook 1999 -- Norway
Norwegian Online Information Service
Official Documentation and Information from Norway
Norwegian Labor Party

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.