Taxation the issue in close Norwegian poll

NORWAY: Norway's prime minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik, voted yesterday as the world's third largest oil exporter began to choose…

NORWAY: Norway's prime minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik, voted yesterday as the world's third largest oil exporter began to choose between his tax-cutting centre-right government and a "Red-Green" opposition that wants more welfare spending. Monday is the official voting day, but some polling booths opened yesterday to facilitate people with work commitments today.

Mr Bondevik, a 58-year-old tee-total Lutheran priest, and his allies argue tax cuts are best while his Labour-led opponents accuse him of under-funding public services.

Two of three opinion polls yesterday showed a slim majority for the "Red-Green" alliance led by the Labour party, while the other showed Mr Bondevik's three-party coalition could survive after a surge in the past week.

Mr Bondevik, in power since 2001, has won little credit for an economic upturn or UN plaudits rating Norway as the world's best country in which to live. Labour accuses him of giving tax cuts to the rich in a country proud of Nordic traditions of equality.

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Mr Bondevik says the opposition parties would spend too much on a welfare system that may already be the world's most generous.