"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."
Norway's sovereign wealth fund, a $2 trillion vehicle created in the early 1990s to manage surplus North Sea oil revenue, faces domestic and international scrutiny over investments in companies tied to Israel amid the Gaza war. The fund's previously non-political status is under pressure as the controversy becomes a political sticking point ahead of a close parliamentary election. Norway will elect 169 members to the Storting using proportional representation, with 150 seats allocated regionally and 19 leveling seats awarded to parties exceeding a 4 percent national threshold. Polls project nine parties winning seats across left and right blocs, and the election outcome will determine whether incumbent Labour leader Jonas Gahr Støre remains in office.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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