Norwegian government in crisis over minister’s terrorism comments

Norway’s minority coalition government is on the brink of a potential collapse as the country’s opposition seeks to remove anti-immigration Justice Minister Sylvi Listhaug from her role over a controversial Facebook post.

In a message posted on the social media site on 9 March, Listhaug, a member of the populist right-wing Progress Party (FrP), accused the opposition Labour Party of caring more about “the rights of terrorists” than the “security of the nation”.

The post, illustrated with a photo of militants from Islamic terrorist group Al-Shabaab, “sparked uproar”, not least because of the Labour Party’s tragic connection to Norway’s bloodiest act of terror, The Local reports. In July 2011, right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik staged twin attacks on government offices in Oslo and on a summer island camp for members of a socialist youth movement affiliated with the Labour Party. A total of 77 people were killed, many of them children.

Last week Listhaug apologised for the post, but opposition parties dismissed the gesture as “not sincere enough” and have continued to agitate for her removal, says Reuters.

Prime Minister Erna Solberg, of the Conservative Party, is bracing for turmoil ahead of a no-confidence motion on Tuesday.

The motion has been tabled by Labour, and has the backing of four other centre-left parties. This leaves the deciding vote to the Christian Democrats, a small party that supports the ruling coalition in parliamentary votes. It will meet today to decide whether to back the no-confidence motion against Listhaug. 

“Any vote could put Norway’s minority administration in a bind because its centrists, who have always been critical of Listhaug, would be forced to pick a side,” says The Local.

If the Christian Democrats back the no-confidence vote, the minority government will resign, Norwegian newspaper VG reported on Sunday.

A vote of no confidence has not brought down a Norwegian government since 1963, when two separate cabinets were voted out within one month of each other following a scandal over a mining disaster.