Norway's Prime Minister Catches Heat for Hunting Pokémons in Parliament

This summer, Norway's ruling party, the Conservatives, said no to mobile games during parliamentary debates. Earlier this week, however, it was the Prime Minister herself who was caught hunting Pokémons in parliament.

Prime Minister Erna Solberg's previous favorite game, Candy Crush, seems to have given way to Pokemon Go. Solberg seemed to have become so absorbed in the game that she kept on playing during the Norwegian Parliament's opening session.

Earlier this year, the ban on mobile games in parliament was broken by Norwegian Liberal leader Trine Skei Grande, who played with her mobile phone during a meeting on defense strategy. Later, she claimed she was ‘multitasking.' Ironically, it was her standing on the podium and delivering a speech while Erna Solberg was catching Pokemons.

Surprisingly, Skei Grande took no offence at the prime minister's inattention.

"She still heard what I said, we ladies can do two things at the same time you know," Skei Grande tweeted in response to Eivind Trædal of the Green Party.

Haha, herregud. @erna_solberg spilte pokemon Go i Stortinget under #trontaledebatten… mens @Trinesg sto på talerstolen! pic.twitter.com/WwagLoJit7

— Eivind Trædal (@eivindtraedal) 5 октября 2016 г.

​Remarkably, this is not the first time Erna Solberg's name has surfaces in connection with the popular mobile game.

During a business trip to Slovakia, Prime Minister Solberg took an outing from Bratislava's old town to collect the most exotic Pokémon monsters. By Solberg's own admission, Solberg told the press that she was mainly trying to get hold of one of the rarest monsters, a stunt that may require walks of up to ten kilometers.

In September, Swedish Social Democrat Monica Green was caught playing Pokémon Go during Prime Minister Stefan Löfven's speech. Green tweeted a picture of a Pokémon monster peeking from behind Price Daniel's back, which provoked a mixed response and stirred considerable criticism.

Nämen titta en Pokémon bakom prins Daniel när statsministern #riksmötet pic.twitter.com/G7hrXOfMzU

— Monica Green (@GreenMonica) 13 сентября 2016 г.

​Green subsequently defended the tweet, insisting that she was listening attentively to Löfven's speech.

"I can do two things at once. I listened very carefully to the Prime Minister's speech and I thought it was very good," she told local Swedish newspaper Skaraborgs Allehanda.