Political Thriller in Norway - Over a Facebook Post

Quote:

A social media post by Norway’s justice minister accusing the opposition Labour party of putting terrorists’ rights above national security has triggered a no-confidence vote that could bring down the country’s minority government. Five centre-left parties have said they aim to oust Sylvi Listhaug, of the populist, anti-immigration Progress party in the parliamentary vote on Tuesday, following widespread outrage at the Facebook post, which she has since deleted. “Labour thinks the rights of terrorists are more important than the nation’s security. Like and share,” the minister wrote on 9 March beneath a photo of masked Islamist fighters dressed in combat fatigues, black scarves and ammunition belts. The rightwing extremist Anders Behring Breivik shot dead 69 mainly young people at a summer camp run by the youth wing of the Norwegian Labour party on Utøya island in July 2011. Eight more were killed by a car bomb in central Oslo. Listhaug’s post, which coincided with the Oslo premiere of a film about the Utøya killings, the country’s worst peacetime massacre, unleashed a political furore and she was eventually forced to apologise eight times in parliament last week.

Quote:

The minister took six days to take the post down and faced further criticism when her initial apology to MPs referred to a “communications” error rather than the offensive content of the post. She eventually made an unconditional apology, saying “of course it is not the case” that Labour was a threat to national security.

A bit of nuance is gone here. Parliament majority was ready to vote on strong criticism of Listhaug, while only the single representative of the fringe Red (Communist Party) had called for a vote of no confidence.

However, when Listhaug came to Parliament to make a public apology for her Facebook post, she made a mess of it.

She probably thought she could get away with a half-apology, and apologized for people feeling hurt.

This outraged Parliament, making her return to make a second apology.

Which was not much better, making her return to make a third apology.

Parliament was still not pleased, and she returned a fourth time where she finally apologized also for the content of her post, saying that of course Labour cares about the security of the nation.

The result of the apology made Labour, the Socialist Left Partyand the Greens immediately declare that they will now support Red's vote of no confidence. Later the Center Party also joined in, leaving the Christian Democrats - who is needed to gain majority.

Quote:

The opposition Centre party on Friday joined several leftwing groups that had already said they would support the no-confidence vote, in effect leaving the fate of the justice minister – unless she resigns – to the Christian Democratic party, which was meeting on Monday to decide how it would vote. “The polarising rhetoric and behaviour must end,” the party’s leader, Knut Arild Hareide, said before the talks started. “The conclusion has not been reached.”

The Christian Democrats have a good relationship with the coalition's Conservative Party and Liberal Party, but has a bad history with the Progress Party. Especially with Listhaug, who has previously claimed in a televised debate that Christian Democrat leader Hareide "licks the back of imams" - i.e. does anything and everything he can to please them.

Their meeting ended earlier today, and the Christian Democrats have decided that no, they don't have confidence in the Minister of Justice.

The vote is tomorrow.

Quote:

Norwegian media reported over the weekend that the government would stand by Listhaug and resign if the Christian Democrats – who, while supporting Solberg as prime minister since 2013, have refused to join her coalition mainly because of their dislike of Listhaug and the Progress party – backed the motion.

This is tradition in Norway. A cabinet stands and falls together. No confidence against one minister is no confidence against the PM and the entire cabinet.

That's why the PM will most likely go before Parliament and tell them that if the vote of no confidence passes, she will resign and leave Norway without an executive branch. That might force the Christian Democrats to hold their noses and not vote yes.

I don't know how dramatic this sounds to a non-Norwegian, but it's the biggest political thriller in my lifetime. The whole nation is holding its breath, waiting for what happens in Parliament tomorrow.

Source from The Guardian.

via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/2FVeZoS