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Norway: Populist party quits government over jihadi spouse repatriation

The Local Norway
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Norway: Populist party quits government over jihadi spouse repatriation
Progress Party leader Siv Jensen. File photo: AFP

Norway's anti-immigration Progress Party is to leave the government, saying there was "no basis for continuing" in the conservative coalition.

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After six years and two months as part of Prime Minister Erna Solberg's coalition, the right-wing populist party will quit Norway's government, leader Siv Jensen said in a press statement.

"I took Progress into government, I'm now taking Progress out again. I am doing this because it's the only right thing to do. We are simply not seeing enough of our politics implemented to justify further defeats," Jensen said according to NRK.

Earlier on Monday, senior party figures held an extraordinary  meeting comes amid calls by a number of local party leaders for Jensen to take the group out of the government.

The background for the decision is Norway's decision to allow a woman linked with the Islamic State terror group back into the country on humanitarian grounds. 

The Progress Party has strongly criticized the decision, arguing that that the risk of allowing a person linked to Isis into Norway outweighs the country's humanitarian duty to help the child.

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Progress Party leader Siv Jensen previously told NRK that “the cup is full” in reference to her party’s working relationship with the Conservatives.

Solberg is scheduled to travel to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland tomorrow.

READ ALSO: What next for Norway's government after break-up of coalition?

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