OSLO, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Tone Wilhelmsen Troen was elected as new president of the Norwegian Storting (parliament) on Thursday, one week after her predecessor resigned over a building budget scandal.
"The Storting has elected Tone Wilhelmsen Troen as President of the Storting. She succeeds Olemic Thommessen, who announced his resignation on 8th March," the Norwegian parliament said in a statement.
Troen, a politician for the Conservative Party, is the second woman in history to hold that position. Kirsti Kolle Grondahl was Norway's first female president of the Storting in 1993 to 2001.
"I hope to be able to perform this position in a confident and trustworthy way and lead the Storting's work by having close and good cooperation with all the parties," Troen was quoted as saying by newspaper Aftenposten.
Thommessen was last week forced to resign over enormous cost overruns on a building project of the Storting his office had led, Aftenposten reported.
The cost has increased from 1.1 billion kroner (143 million U.S. dollars) to 2.3 billion kroner in three years and it may increase further.
Troen promised to follow the politics of adjusting consumption by income and keeping in touch with all the building projects and early updates, so as to avoid similar scandals in future.
Troen has represented Akershus county in the Storting since 2013. She was a member of the Standing Committee on Health and Care Services in 2013 to 2017 and has served as leader of the Standing Committee on Family and Cultural Affairs since 2017.
