Two weeks before the general election in Germany, voters in Norway are in favor of a change of government towards a center-left alliance. The next prime minister is likely to be Jonas Gahr Støre. Who is the man?
Norway is likely to be ruled by a center-left alliance soon. The Social Democrats, who have been in the opposition for eight years, clearly won the parliamentary elections in the Scandinavian country, despite a slight loss of votes, as provisional figures from the electoral authority showed. Party leader Jonas Gahr Støre is likely to become the new head of government and successor to the conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg.
But who is the man who is most likely to rule Norway soon?
Støre, who has been a member of the Labor Party since the mid-1990s, has a long political career behind him. From 2005 to 2012 he was Foreign Minister under the then Social Democratic Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. From 2012 to 2013 he was Minister of Health. Since 2009 he has been sitting for the Workers’ Party in Storting, the Norwegian parliament. From 2014 he is also the party leader of the Social Democrats.
Støre lost the 2017 election to Erna Solberg
Before he took over pure party positions from 2001, Støre was first a researcher and then a civil servant. During the Labor Party’s opposition from 2001 to 2005, Støre also worked as chairman of the board at Econ Analyze and as general secretary of the Norwegian Red Cross.
Already in 2017, great expectations were placed on him in the parliamentary elections to lead the party back into the government position and to take over the office of prime minister again after Erna Solberg. But he didn’t succeed. At the time, Støre himself took on a large part of the responsibility for the surprisingly poor performance.
Støre grew up on the western edge of Oslo, an affluent area. His father Ulf Jonas Støre was a ship broker. His grandfather ensured the family had a good financial basis through the wood and heating manufacturer Jøtul, which was sold to Norcem in the 1970s.
“Rich intellectual among workers”
Jonas Gahr Støre graduated from high school in Berg in 1979 and, after completing his time at the Norwegian Naval Forces College and one year as a lieutenant in the Navy, traveled to Paris in 1981 and studied for five years at the Institut d’Études Politiques. From 1986 to 1988 he was a researcher at Harvard Law School in the USA and at the BI Norwegian School of Management. Finally, in 1989, he became special advisor to the Social Democratic Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland.
Despite his colorful career, Støre has two controversies on his account: in 2007 he was criticized for recognizing the Hamas government in the Palestinian territories; In 2017 it became known that craftsmen had been working illegally on his property six years earlier.
Støre was always viewed with skepticism because of his background. He was considered a rich intellectual among workers, as a student from Paris. Many of his wealth did not fit into the image of a member of the Labor Party. According to a report by the Norwegian newspaper from 2018, Støre’s fortune should amount to at least 85 million Norwegian kroner – the equivalent of more than 8.3 million euros. Much of it comes from the sale of the Jøtul company.
Despite his origins and the skepticism that has been shown towards him, he is one of the most popular politicians of the Labor Party today – and the designated Prime Minister of Norway.
Sources: DPA news agency,,,,,,
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