On September 9, Norway’s Conservative party swept into power in eight years, ousting the ruling Labor Party.
Solberg said to her supporters, “Today voters have given a historically strong victory for the center-right. We will give this country a new government.” She will become Norway’s second female prime minister after Gro Harlem Brundtland who served three terms as prime minister in the 1980s and ‘90s.
Born in 1961, Solberg grew up in Bergen. She was elected to parliament at the young age of 28 and she has served as a member of the Storting (Norwegian Parliament) since then. She was dubbed “Iron Erna” by the Norwegian media for tightening immigration rules as government minister in a previous centre-right coalition from 2001-05. Also known as ‘Norway’s Merkel,’ Solberg will reduce the private sector and promise tax cuts.
