‘IRON ERNA’
Norwegian PM won second straight mandate by promising continuity
OSLO she served in government.
She earned the nickname “Iron Erna” for the firm hand with which she managed immigration issues when she was local government minister from 2001 to 2005.
That year, she came close to being kicked out as head of the party just one year into the job, after the Conservatives posted a catastrophic score in legislative elections.
She then softened the party line, putting the accent on social issues. “People, not billions” became her leitmotif.
Politically close to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Solberg insisted she was not out to dismantle Norway’s much-cherished welfare state, but rather reduce taxes and open up for more private actors in public services in a bid to improve efficiency.
Mixing knowledge of the issues with a laid-back style, she has widened the Conservative voter base and make Norwegians want to vote for a party long seen as stuffy and old-fashioned.
Married and the mother of two children, she has let herself be photographed in everyday situations: jumping on a mini-trampoline, or at home in a messy kitchen with an ironing board unfolded in front of a cluttered cabinet stocked full of alcohol.
And it has paid off. In 2013, she came to power at the head of a minority coalition with the mildly populist Progress Party.
A survey conducted during the most recent election campaign showed that she is seen as much more “down to earth” and folksy — a virtue in egalitarian Scandinavia — than her Labour rival, the multi-millionnaire Jonas Gahr Store. AFP