The resulting Red-Green coalition government marked the first time that the Socialist Left Party was included in the cabinet.

[1] In the electoral campaign of the 2005 election Halvorsen announced that she would leave politics if the government would not be able to provide all citizens with kindergarten for their children by the end of 2007, and proclaimed that "this is so important for me that you'll get rid of me if we don't accomplish this".

[2] While she stood firmly by her announcement even two months after the election,[3] she in October 2006 simply withdrew her promise, stating that "what I have said is that we'll have full coverage in 2007.

When attending a television program during the 2009 electoral campaign, she also refused to apologise to the poor in Norway for her failure.

[5] On 5 January 2006, Halvorsen caused a controversy by calling for boycott of Israeli products as a sign of solidarity with the Palestinians.