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Brundtland to step down as Norway's prime minister
Seen as candidate for top U.N. post
October 23, 1996
Web posted at: 9:45 a.m. EDT (1345 GMT)OSLO, Norway (CNN) -- Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland, who has dominated her country's politics for more than 15 years, surprised Parliament Wednesday by announcing her resignation, effective Friday.
Brundtland, 57, who said she would recommend Labor Party protege Thorbjoern Jagland, 45, as her successor, did not give a reason for stepping down. But she has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the post of United Nations secretary-general.
The decision to resign was made a year ago, she said during a question-and-answer session in Parliament. Brundtland said she decided to leave office now to make it clear to voters who will be Labor's prime minister candidate in national elections to be held in November 1997.
It was the timing of the announcement -- not the resignation itself -- that came as a surprise. Brundtland had already said she wanted to step down, but the announcement wasn't expected so soon.
Norway's first woman prime minister
In 1981 Brundtland became Norway's first woman prime minister and its youngest. The first of her three terms began when the Labor Party appointed her to replace Oddvar Nordli. It lasted seven months until Labor was swept away in an election wave of conservatism.
She returned to power from 1986-1989 after a Conservative-led coalition resigned. Her first act was to appoint eight women in her 18-member cabinet. Brundtland, a physician with a public health degree from Harvard, formed the current government in 1990.
U.N.-bound?
Her name has been tossed around in New York as a possible successor to U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, whose term ends at the end of the year. In Vienna earlier this week, Brundtland again denied she is interested in that post.
Asked Wednesday if she would seek a job as head of an international organization, Brundtland replied only: "I will return to Parliament as a simple deputy."
Reuters contributed to this report.
Related sites:
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- Official Documentation and Information from Norway
- Norway Information Service
- Norway Link
- CNN Travel City Guide: Norway
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