Norwegian opposition leader accuses PM of lying
Norwegian opposition leader Erna Solberg accuses Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre's government of lying to voters about maintaining free ferry services. She claims Labor Party officials made campaign promises they knew would be broken, damaging public trust. The controversy highlights the challenge of reconciling election pledges with budgetary realities.
Conservative leader Erna Solberg has broken her usual restraint in political debate. She now describes the Labor Party's election campaign statements as lies.
Solberg said she always avoided calling other politicians liars. But she claims this situation demands the term. The Labor Party misled voters about their own policies and misrepresented their opponents, she argued.
She called for apologies and internal cleanup within the governing party.
Solberg and her Conservative Party challenged Labor's portrayal of their policies during the campaign. They tried correcting what they saw as misinformation on several issues without success.
The conflict centers on a campaign video by Labor deputy leader Jan Christian Vestre. He warned that Conservatives would remove free ferry services and student loan forgiveness in rural areas.
These are exactly the cuts Labor now proposes in the national budget.
Solberg highlighted revelations that Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre promised free ferries just five days before the election. This happened after his government secretly decided to scrap the entire program.
Støre promised free ferries would continue on September 3. But his government had already held its final budget conference and decided the opposite two weeks earlier.
This behavior damages public trust and creates political cynicism, Solberg wrote.
She emphasized that all politicians bear responsibility for maintaining voter trust.
Sometimes we fundamentally disagree, she noted. Other times we must cooperate across party lines.
But we must always be honest with each other and the Norwegian people, she insisted.
Recent disclosures show the prime minister and health minister continued making campaign promises about programs scheduled for cuts in next year's budget. This occurred after budget outlines were finalized and approved.
The government internally confirmed free ferry removal five days before the parliamentary election. Still, Støre told local newspaper Øynytt the program would continue.
The same week, Labor published a Facebook campaign video where Vestre told voters Conservatives would remove free ferries and student debt relief. He claimed these programs were at stake in the election.
Labor made these claims despite knowing their upcoming budget would eliminate free ferries and drastically reduce student loan forgiveness from January.
On Friday morning, a page on Labor's website boasting about introducing free ferries disappeared. The party's communications chief confirmed the page's removal.
This situation reveals the tension between campaign rhetoric and governing reality. Political parties often make promises during elections that become difficult to fulfill when facing budget constraints.