Norway’s parliamentary election on Sept. 7, 2025, opened as a tight contest in which the incumbent Labour Party risks losing office amid public anger over a punitive wealth tax and controversy surrounding the country’s sovereign wealth fund.
Opinion polls in the run-up to the vote showed Labour as the largest single party with roughly 26% support but potentially unable to assemble a left‑of‑centre coalition, while the right‑leaning Progress Party and the Conservatives together looked positioned to form an alternative government. Pollsters and commentators said the race had unfolded into an unusually suspenseful national contest.
The wealth tax has been a central issue. Critics point to an exodus of wealthy business leaders who say the levy has pushed them to relocate abroad, and to a reported slowdown in start‑up creation and investment. Supporters of repeal say domestic owners face an unfair burden compared with foreign investors, a point that has been seized on by opposition parties as they press for gradual removal of the tax.
Labour tried to blunt the controversy by bringing in Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg — the former prime minister and ex‑NATO secretary general — earlier this year. Stoltenberg has said he would review Norway’s tax regime if Labour were returned to power, an acknowledgement within the party that the issue has damaged public support.
The Progress Party, campaigning on the slogan "Your money, your freedom," had climbed to about 21% in many polls and pushed for the tax’s abolition over time. Its leader, Sylvi Listhaug, also made immigration a leading campaign plank, calling for net zero immigration; immigration has emerged as a second major voter concern in this election.
The campaign has also been affected by scrutiny of Norway’s $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, traditionally regarded as politically neutral. Earlier this summer, reports that the fund had increased its stake in a manufacturer of parts for Israeli jets prompted public anger and a government order to review the fund’s investments in companies with links to Israeli activity in the West Bank or Gaza. The fund subsequently divested shares in several Israeli banks and other companies it said posed an "unacceptable risk." Opposition politicians accused the government of political interference in fund management.
Tensions extended to transatlantic relations after the fund sold approximately $1 billion of shares in Caterpillar, the U.S. construction machinery maker, in a move the fund said was related to the risk of the company’s equipment being used in the occupied Palestinian territories. Media reports said the U.S. administration was considering retaliatory measures in response, a development that added an international dimension to the domestic political debate.
Norway’s election outcome will determine whether Labour can secure support from smaller left‑wing parties to continue governing or whether a centre‑right coalition led by the Progress Party and the Conservatives will take power and pursue tax cuts and changes to fund governance. Analysts say the result could have wider European implications, as policymakers elsewhere study Norway’s experience with wealth levies while debating how to fund public services and manage inequality.
The vote comes against a crowded autumn agenda for Norway: the sovereign wealth fund review remains live, and the Nobel Peace Prize committee in Oslo is set to announce its laureate later in the season, an event that traditionally draws international attention to the country. Political strategists and investors said the election’s signal on tax policy and state investment strategy could influence Norwegian markets and business decisions for years to come.