Norway left eyes re-election as voting gets going

Norway's centre-left coalition received a fresh opinion poll boost on Monday as a general election got underway, the latest sign that voters have approved of the government's handling of the economy.Polls have shown Prime Minister Jens StoltenbergJens Stoltenberg's coalition neck-and-neck with a splintered centre-right opposition, although surveys in the past week have shown the left looking increasingly likely to pull off a rare back-to-back victory.The race is set to determine whether the affluent country opens new Arctic areas for energy exploration, how it spends vast oil revenues and possibly whether it opens a fresh debate on EU membership.A poll by Sentio published on Monday saw the government winning 88 seats in the 169-member parliament, increasing its majority by one seat compared with four years ago and becoming the first sitting cabinet in 16 years to win re-election.The country's massive oil windfall has been kept at an arms-length distance from the economy to avoid overheating.But as the offshore fund swelled to more than $400 billion, or $80,000 per citizen, it has stoked Norwegians' expectations for public services."Normally in Norway the government will lose the election and we are very close to winning," Stoltenberg told reporters after casting his ballot during early voting on Sunday.Voting ends at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) on Monday, when exit polls will be published. Politicians will hold a special parliamentary session at 2200 GMT to discuss the election result.Stoltenberg has dug deeper into the oil fund to cushion the blow of the global recession and with unemployment at 3 percent and a return to economic growth expected in 2010, many see the government as a safe pair of hands during the crisis.The government of Stoltenberg's Labour, the Socialist Left and Centre Party champion a leading state role in the economy and oppose the tax cuts and privatisation proposals made by centre-right opposition parties.If the government loses its majority, it is unclear what cabinet will emerge because the centre-right is fractured between three more centrist parties and the right-wing Progress Party.Even though Progress is expected to end up as the second-largest single party behind Labour, the centre-right Conservatives will probably be in a better position to form a government because they are acceptable for the centrist parties.Progress wants to let loose on oil spending, while other parties seek to retain restraints on tapping the oil fund to avoid economic ills that undermine resource-rich countries.Conservative leader Erna SolbergErna Solberg, seen as a potential prime minister, has said she would sit down for policy talks with all right-of-centre parties if the left lost its majority. She also wants to launch a new debate over the merits of EU accession after Norway rejected membership twice, in 1972 and in 1994.