Norwegian voters have moved ideologically towards the right
Norwegian voters want lower taxes, a stricter immigration policy and less intrusive climate measures than before, according to a new in-depth study of the 2025 parliamentary election.
The survey, by the Institute for Social Research (ISF), found that voters overall moved ideologically to the right between the 2021 general election and the 2025 election.
"Sometimes voters move between parties without it meaning much. But Norwegian voters as a whole have moved towards the right in an ideological way," Johannes Bergh, election researcher at the Institute for Social Research (ISF), told public broadcaster NRK.
The researchers studied voters' views on how the state was governed, tax policy, immigration, and regional politics.
"Norwegian voters want lower taxes and fees. They want a stricter immigration policy. They want less far-reaching climate and environmental measures, and they are more open to private solutions compared to public solutions. So all this points in the direction of the right, and especially the Progress Party," Bergh said.
The survey also shows that the differences between voter groups have increased, and that men are further to the right than women.
Norwegian vocabulary: inngripende – far-reaching/intrusive
Norwegian customs on track for record drugs seizures
The Norwegian Customs Service has seized over 1.2 tons of hashish, 95 kg of cocaine, and just under one million narcotic pills, chiefly benzodiazepines, in the first half of 2026. If the trend is continued throughout the year and cocaine is excluded, the amount of narcotics seized is likely to exceed last year's record.
"The Norwegian drug market is strong compared to other countries, and it is lucrative for criminals to operate here," said Benedicte Bjørnland, the director general, saying the figures reflect both higher demand and the service's success in detecting deliveries. "Smuggling pressure is high, smuggling methods are changing rapidly and becoming increasingly advanced."
Bjørnland said she did not believe that her agency was interrupting "a large share" of the drugs being smuggled but said that she hoped that smugglers felt there was a "real risk of discovery".
The 1.2 tons of hashish compares to the 2.2 tons seized in all of 2025, while the 95 kg of cocaine compares to 278 kg of cocaine seized in 2025 – a difference Bjørnland said was largely due to a single 147 kg haul seized at a fruit wholesaler.
"We have no reason to believe that the demand for cocaine has decreased," she said.
Norwegian vocabulary: etterretning – intelligence (in the spying sense)
Road pricing could yield 40 billion kroner in social benefits
Road pricing has been declared the most economically profitable measure that Norway's authorities could take in the traffic area, reducing congestion, improving traffic safety, and lowering emissions, according to a new report from Menon Economics.
The consulting company studied the effects of 46 traffic research projects. The road pricing project builds on several years of collaboration between Sintef, Q-Free and the Norwegian Public Roads Administration, which have delivered digital solutions that would make it possible to price driving more precisely and fairly than today's toll systems.
How profitable road pricing eventually becomes depends largely on political decisions, according to Menon Economics.
The idea faces significant political hurdles, however. In 2024, Centre Party leader, then Norway's finance minister, scrapped a proposal for road pricing, and in 2025 the Progress Party in Oslo reacted strongly to a plan by the city council to introduce road pricing.
Norwegian vocabulary: lønnsom – profitable
Labour Party slams Progress Party's 'stupid' call for gas power plants
The ruling Labour Party has slammed a proposal from the Progress Party to build a new fleet of gas-fired power plants in Norway, arguing that doing so would bring Norway German-style power prices.
"Feeding electricity made from gas into a system that has low electricity prices... It's the stupidest thing you can do if you're concerned about low power prices," Mani Hussaini, the Labour Party MP who heads the parliament's Energy and Environment Committee, told NTB.
"It is ironic that the Progress Party is advocating for gas power plants. They were in government when the last gas power plant at Kårstø was shut down," Hussaini said. "And the reason it was shut down is the same reason why no one advocates developing gas power today: It's ridiculously expensive!"
Hussaini said there was nothing in Norway's legislation preventing a power generation company from building a new gas-fired power plant, arguing that the fact that none had done so highlighted the poor economics of gas for power generation.
Norwegian vocabulary: svindyr – ridiculously expensive (literally "pig expensive").
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