Polling stations opened across Norway on Monday Sep 11,2017 as the oil-rich nation votes for its next four years of government.
The election, which has been labelled the "biggest election thriller in many decades" by national media, will see Prime Minister Erna Solberg's Conservatives go head-to-head with the opposition Labour party.
Opinion polls indicate a close race, with an aggregate suggesting just one seat may separate the parties once Norway's 169-member parliament is returned.
Solberg's Conservative party has led a coalition government, alongside the libertarian Progress Party, since ballots were last cast in 2013.
The coalition is running on a manifesto of continuity, which includes further tax cuts in a bid to boost economic growth for Norway's 5.3 million people
The Scandinavian nation uses a proportional representation electoral system, which allocates the number of seats a party wins in each parliament relative to the number of votes the party receives in each election.
The winner is likely to face complex coalition negotiations as a number of Norway's smaller parties prepare to make tough demands in return for their support in the next parliament.
Norway's Green Party is seeking to end all oil exploration, claiming the practice is environmentally damaging, while other minority parties are also aiming to limit the amount of new oil exploration areas.
Norway, Western Europe's biggest oil producer, is "the world's happiest country" according to the UN's World Happiness Report 2017.
The report, based on data from the Gallup World Poll which analysed more than 100 world issues affecting people's lives, scored Norway highly on factors including "caring, freedom, generosity, honesty, health, income and good governance".
More than one million of Norway's 3.76m registered voters have cast their ballot early, with a number of regions permitting voting on Sunday before polling stations opened throughout the country today.
Voting opens at 9am local time (07:00 GMT) and will close at 9pm (19:00 GMT), the first partial results are expected to be released shortly after
Ruling Conservatives claim second term
Norway's Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg appears set for a second term after claiming victory in the country's general election.
Ms Solberg's ruling coalition with the Progress Party is slated to win 89 of 169 seats, with 95% of votes counted.
The opposition Labour Party appears to have maintained its position as the largest single group in parliament.
Ms Solberg said voters had given her "a mandate for four more years" but urged caution as results were being counted.
"It looks like a clear victory," Ms Solberg said to a group of her supporters in Oslo, adding: "Our solutions have worked; we have created jobs."
Confirmation of the win would make Ms Solberg, 56, the first centre-right leader in three decades to be re-elected Norway's prime minister.
Her conservative coalition with the anti-immigration Progress Party ran a campaign promising tax cuts, which it said would help to boost economic growth.
The opposition Labour Party, led by 57-year-old former foreign minister Jonas Gahr Store, campaigned on a promise to raise taxes for the wealthiest in a bid to improve public services.
The party, which has been the biggest political party in Norway since the 1920s, was projected to take 80 seats.
Norway has not seen a Conservative-led government retain power in an election since 1985.
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