NEWS

On the eve of what is expected to be a lively parliamentary election season in oil-rich Norway, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg took to Twitter to fire shots at one of his key opponents, Progress Party leader Siv Jensen.

Mr. Stoltenberg has been the portrait of a statesman in recent years, leading a nation through two tragedies that attracted international attention, including the mass shooting by Anders Behring Breivik and the Algerian hostage crisis in which five Norwegian oil workers died. In both cases, Mr. Stoltenberg was stoic and professional.

But as a September parliamentary election nears and his Labour party trails in the polls, he apparently felt it was time to take the gloves off. The action started with a tweet sent from his account Wednesday afternoon:

Jens Stoltenberg: It is known that @siv_jensen_frp opposes the “Norwegian model,” but what model is she fan of, exactly? The American?