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Norway's Conservative Coalition Looks Set to Survive Key Vote

Norway's Conservative Coalition Looks Set to Survive Key Vote

(Bloomberg) -- Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg may well breathe a sigh of relief now that the Christian Democrats look likely to vote against toppling the minority coalition government.

On Friday, the Christian Democrats will vote on whether to abandon their support for the Conservative-led government and side with the Labor Party, marking the end of Solberg’s five-year tenure. That now appears to be going the prime minister’s way.

A tally by newspaper VG found that 99 of the 190 delegates attending the Christian Democrat Party’s national congress are in favor of backing Solberg’s government either as a coalition member or as a support party. Only 90 delegates want to support the opposition, while one delegate is undecided. The last delegates were elected on Tuesday evening from the county of Ostfold.

Christian Democrat leader Knut Arild Hareide has asked for a secret ballot, VG reported, in the hope that delegates from the parliamentary group may swing the vote to his side. That could result in a tighter race than indicated by the preliminary poll.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sveinung Sleire in Oslo at ssleire1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jonas Bergman at jbergman@bloomberg.net, Stephen Treloar

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