Top woman drops out of race to lead Labour

"I have been elected by the party congress to be deputy leader.  It is a role I am very, very good at. It is also the role I want to continue," she told Norway's NRK channel on Monday. 

 

Pedersen, who was brought up in a culturally Sami farming family in Finnmark, far-northern Norway, has been championed by Labour party figures from her region to succeed Stoltenberg. 

 

However, the former health minister Jonas Gahr Støre, the son of a shipping magnate who attended one of Oslo's most prestigious schools,  is the big favorite to replace Stoltenberg, who has headed the party for 13 years. The party aims to agree on a new leader over the summer.