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Norway’s coalition government was at risk of collapse on Monday after its finance minister quit following the return of a suspected ISIS member and her two children from Syria last week.
The resignation of Siv Jensen and her right-wing Progress Party means Prime Minister Erna Solberg does not have a parliamentary majority.
The Conservative Party member, who leads the four-party coalition, is expected to remain in office and head up a minority coalition. She has defended the return of the child, saying concern for its health was “paramount”.
“I brought us into government, and I’m now bringing the party out,” Ms. Jensen told a news conference.
“Many believe she used her child as a shield to come back to Norway. There are many in Norway who are displeased by this, not just in the Progress Party,” she added.
There had been “too many compromises”, Ms. Jensen said, while adding she wants to have a close dialogue with the prime minister in the future.
Ms. Jensen’s departs with six other cabinet ministers from her party.
Her party is angry at the move to help bring back the suspected female ISIS member from Syria so that one of her children could receive medical treatment. The latter, who left Norway in 2013 and is Norwegian-Pakistani, was arrested on her return.
The populist Progress Party had offered to help the children but were angry at giving government support for adults wanting to come back to Norway.
Ms. Jensen recently admitted that the government looked “grey and dull”.
Norway’s constitution does not allow early elections, and the next vote for parliament will take place in September 2021.
All four parties in Ms. Solberg’s coalition currently struggle in the polls, including Progress which is stuck at about 10 percent support, down from more than 20 percent a decade ago.
