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Today, on September 14, the Norwegian people go to the polls to elect 169 members to the next Parliament, the Storting, for the five-year term from 2009 to 2013. The sitting Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg from the Labour Party (AP) and his two partners in the current coalition government, the Socialist Party (SV) and the Centre Party (SP), have been campaigning hard hoping that the voters will return them to their cabinet offices. But this year, opinion polls cannot guarantee anything about the outcome.
AP and SV are doing well, according to the polls, but so is the ultraconservative party called the Progress Party (FRP). And it is the rising popularity of the FRP that should concern Pakistani immigrants who have made Norway their home.
FRP has figured as the second-largest party just behind AP in several opinion polls. Yet, it is hoped that when people actually cast their votes they will not vote for the rightwing party, seen by most Norwegians and a capitalist party with a number of populist, ill-considered and loose ideas. 'This year's parliamentary election can mean the beginning of a new era for the international solidarity thinking in Norway,' Erik Solheim, Minister of Development and Environment, writes in the September issue of Bistandsaktuelt, the Norwegian development aid agency Norad's magazine. 'The [FRP] aims at a massive reduction of Norwegian development aid and a direct attack on the international solidarity organisations in Norway.'
In light of FRP's pre-poll popularity, social scientists and political observers are finding it difficult to explain why such a conservative wind is blowing over Norway. After all, Norway is one of the world's richest countries with a GDP per capita of US$ 54,500. There is hardly any unemployment in the country, and the Norwegians have been quite sheltered from major negative effects of the international financial and economic crisis, thanks to wise policies. Norway's small population of just under five million people are generally happy living conditions in Norway are among the best in the world and the country is again ranked as the most peaceful, according to an international survey.
Pakistani-Norwegians form the single-largest foreign community, with over 20,000 in the capital Oslo alone and another 10,000 in other cities. On the whole, the immigrant community does well at school and in jobs. Girls have done well at university for a while and now boys are following suit, to great pride of Pakistani-Norwegian parents, and grandparents in Gujarat, the main sending area.
The first few Pakistanis arrived in Norway in 1968 and have assimilated well into some spheres of Norwegian society. But in spite of the fact that Pakistanis represents the largest non-European migrant community, they are not proportionately represented in politics or government. Akhtar Chaudhry from the Socialist Left Party is the only ethnic Pakistani and immigrant in the parliament. Besides him, there are no other ethnic Pakistanis, Muslims, or for that matter, immigrants in parliament. In the present government of the Labor Party there are no Pakistani or Muslims serving as ministers or senior advisors other than one junior advisor of Pakistani origin in the Ministry of
Labor and Integration.
To address this lack of representation, in the September 2009 elections, for the first time ever in Norwegian politics, a small immigrant party made up of Pakistanis and others has emerged. This party is led by Pakistanis who are trying to attract votes from their community with election promises of easier immigration laws and more Islamic private schools.
Interestingly, the emergence of this immigrant party is a direct response to the growing popularity of FRP. The ultraconservatives are the main agitator against Muslims and non-western migrants in Norway. The Pakistani-Norwegian community senses that the FRP, the second-largest political party in Norway, is pushing for stricter anti-Islamic measures in Norway, including banning the display of hijab in public, closing Islamic private schools and halting state support for Islamic organisations.
The FRP also supports Israel and wants all development aid to the Palestinians halted. In addition, they have been an ardent supporter of former US president George Bush's policies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and support an expansion of the war into Pakistan. Many Pakistanis and Muslims in Norway fear that the FRP, even if it doesn't come into power, has enough political clout to push for more anti-Muslim policies, in particular, more strict immigrations laws for countries such as Pakistan.
'I would be very worried if FRP's Chairwoman Siv Jensen should be able to become the next Prime Minister of Norway,' says a Pakistani-Norwegian living in Islamabad. 'FRP would do the opposite of what is needed to help Pakistani-Norwegians, other Muslims and immigrants at large to integrate better in Norway. FRP intends to reduce dramatically development aid to countries like Pakistan. As a result, Norway's general international standing would be drastically diminished, which would be a serious and very negative long-term effect.'
Election results are due on Tuesday. But for the moment, it seems unlikely that an FRP candidate will hold the prime minister's office. Towards the end of the election campaign, the Conservative Party (H) seems to have bounced back, especially after the respected former Conservative prime minister Kaare Willoch suggested that the Conservatives should create the next government in coalition with some smaller centre-right parties, if the results were in their favour. This move would isolate the ultraconservative FRP to the far right. As such, the election seems to have become more between a Labour-led government on the one hand, and a Conservative-led government on the other, thereby keeping the ultraconservatives, FRP, at safe distance from the offices of power and responsibility.
That said, more power hungry and hawkish members of the Conservative Party may accept to rule with the ultraconservatives, should they get a chance by becoming the largest, viable group in Parliament and making it possible to form a coalition government. The Norwegian Constitution states that the Cabinet must be formed by the party, or parties, which represent the majority views in Parliament. That is the principle of 'parliamentary government', the foundation of the Norwegian parliament since 1884 and most other European parliaments.
Atle Hetland is a Norwegian social scientist, currently based in Islamabad. He is a founding member of the Pakistan-Norway Association (PANA) and the author of 'The Know NORWAY Book,' to be released in Pakistan in November. Email atlehetland@yahoo.com
