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‘It is important for Norway that Hillary Clinton is elected’

The Local Norway
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‘It is important for Norway that Hillary Clinton is elected’
Norway's foreign policy leaders have given the thumbs up to Clinton over Trump. Photos: David Becker/Scanpix, Eric Thayer/Reuters/Scanpix

Norway’s foreign minister and the head of parliament's foreign affairs committee have taking the unusual step of speaking out against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

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Foreign Minister Børge Brende told broadcaster NRK on Monday that he has serious concerns about what Trump’s possible election could mean for Norway and the rest of the world. 
 
Brende condemned the brash businessman for making statements that “do not belong in the 21st century” and said he is continually flabbergasted by the controversial statements made by the Republican presidential candidate. 
 
“Many of the comments that Donald Trump has made create unrest,” Brende said. “It’s almost like you can’t even believe what you are hearing.” 
 
Trump has been embroiled in one controversy after the other in the long run-up to November’s US elections. He recently called President Barack Obama “the founder of Isis”, made a comment about “Second Amendment people” that many considered to be a veiled call for the assassination of his rival Hillary Clinton, has said the election results will be "rigged" against him, and has raised doubts about the US’s future role in Nato should he be elected. 
 
Brende said that the continued controversies were enough to make him take the unusual step of speaking out about a foreign election. 
 
“We don’t have a tradition in Norway of getting into other countries’ electoral processes, but the situation with some of Trump’s proposals are so extraordinary that I have chosen to respond, including his comments that call into question the collective solidarity of Nato, which has been the basis for all of the security policies that have been built since World War 2,” he told NRK. 
 
The foreign minister also made it clear that his problems with Trump went beyond foreign policy disagreements. 
 
“Trump has made statements about women and minorities that we do not need and that do not belong in the 21st century,” he said. 
 
The head of parliament’s foreign affairs committee, Anniken Huitfeldt of the Labour Party, also spoke out about her deep concerns over Trump. 
 
“That Trump casts doubt on Nato and international law and the annexation of Crimea is very disturbing for us in Norway,” she told NRK. 
 
She made no bones about who she hopes will win the November 8th election. 
 
“It is incredibly important that the Americans do not adopt a confrontational position toward the rest of the world. It is important for Norway that Hillary Clinton be elected,” Huitfeldt said. 
 
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg has refrained from weighing in directly on the US election, but  Jonas Gahr Støre, the leader of Norway’s Labour party and potentially the country's next PM, recently called the idea of a Trump presidency "deeply disturbing"
 

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