Ingvild Kjerkol, Norway’s health minister, resigned on Friday following allegations of plagiarism in her academic work. The resignation came after a probe by Nord University concluded that there was a significant amount of plagiarism in her master’s thesis.
Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced the resignation at a press conference, stating that the plagiarism was intentional. Kjerkol denied the accusations, saying that she did not intend to plagiarize and that it was difficult not to be believed.
Kjerkol is the second government member to be involved in academic plagiarism allegations this year. Earlier in the year, Sandra Borch resigned as Minister for Research and Higher Education after parts of her master’s thesis were found to be copied without attribution.
Støre’s coalition has experienced several ministers leaving in recent months due to various wrongdoings. In September, it was revealed that the husband of Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt had been trading stocks without her knowledge, potentially enriching her. Additionally, the ruling social democratic Labor party was defeated by the conservative Hoeyre party for the first time since 1924 in local elections held on September 11th across Norway. Previously, the Labor party had been Norway’s largest party in local elections but came in second place this time around.
