Norway's government resigns after losing power plant vote

March 9, 2000
Web posted at: 8:39 p.m. EST (0139 GMT)

From Morten Overbye of CNN Norge

OSLO, Norway (CNN) -- Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and his minority coalition government are giving up power after losing a vote of confidence in parliament Thursday night.

Bondevik, 50, said he would hand in his resignation to Norway's King Harald V on Friday, after an opposition majority ignored his objections and voted 81-71 in favor of building Norway's first natural gas-fired power plants.

The coalition government wanted to delay construction until new technology allows more environmentally friendly plants.

Norway now produces most of its electricity from hydroelectric power, which produces no atmospheric emissions.

Bondevik's government says its position is supported by European Union regulations and Norwegian pollution laws.

But the Labor Party and opposition politicians insisted that regulations be changed to allow for the construction, a stand that led to the confidence vote.

The opposition politicians contend the gas-fired plants would slow Norway's dependence on imported electricity from Denmark, which is generated from even more polluting coal-fired plants.

Bondevik says he will advise the king to ask Labor Party parliamentary leader Jens Stoltenberg to form a new government. Many political observers compare Stoltenberg, 40 -- the modern- minded, media-friendly son of a former foreign minister -- to British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

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City Guides: Norway

The European Union
International Energy Outlook 1999 - Natural Gas
U.S. Y2K Information Center: Energy
World Bank: Energy
Uranium Institute
Alexander's Gas & Oil Connections - Norway
CIA -- The World Factbook 1999 -- Norway
Norwegian Online Information Service
Official Documentation and Information from Norway
Norwegian Labor Party

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