2017 Norwegian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Norway on 11 September 2017 to elect all 169 members of the unicameral Norwegian Parliament, the Storting. The non-socialist parties retained a reduced majority of 88 seats, allowing Prime Minister Erna Solberg's Conservative-Progress coalition to remain in government.[1][2] The Liberal Party joined the coalition in January 2018 but it remained a minority cabinet until the Christian Democratic Party joined the coalition in 2019. The three largest centre-left parties won 79 seats. The Green Party retained its single seat, while the Red Party won its first ever seat.

2017 Norwegian parliamentary election

← 2013 11 September 2017 2021 →

All 169 seats in the Storting
85 seats are needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
Jonas Gahr Støre undated.jpg
Erna Solberg, Wesenberg, 2011 (1).jpg
SivJensen2428 2E jpg DF0000062823.jpg
Leader Jonas Gahr Støre Erna Solberg Siv Jensen
Party Labour Conservative Progress
Last election 55 seats, 30.84% 48 seats, 26.81% 29 seats, 16.35%
Seats won 49 45 27
Seat change Decrease 6 Decrease 3 Decrease 2
Popular vote 800,947 732,895 444,681
Percentage 27.37% 25.04% 15.19%
Swing Decrease 3.47% Decrease 1.77% Decrease 1.16%

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum in 2019 (cropped).jpg
Audun Lysbakken in 2017.jpg
Trine Skei Grande 2017.jpg
Leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum Audun Lysbakken Trine Skei Grande
Party Centre Socialist Left Liberal
Leader since 7 April 2014 11 March 2012 6 May 2012
Last election 10 seats, 5.48% 7 seats, 4.1% 9 seats, 5.23%
Seats won 19 11 8
Seat change Increase 9 Increase 4 Decrease 1
Popular vote 302,017 176,222 127,910
Percentage 10.32% 6.02% 4.37%
Swing Increase 4.84% Increase 1.93% Decrease 0.86%

  Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party
 
Knut Arild Hareide (KrF).JPG
Rasmus Hansson, Une Aina Bastholm (2016) portrait.jpg
Bjørnar Moxnes 2016 (cropped).jpg
Leader Knut Arild Hareide Rasmus Hansson
Une Aina Bastholm
Bjørnar Moxnes
Party Christian Democratic Green Red
Last election 10 seats, 5.59% 1 seat, 2.79% 0 seats, 1.08%
Seats won 8 1 1
Seat change Decrease 2 Steady Increase 1
Popular vote 122,797 94,788 70,522
Percentage 4.20% 3.24% 2.41%
Swing Decrease 1.39% Increase 0.45% Increase 1.33%


Prime Minister before election

Erna Solberg
Conservative

Prime Minister after election

Erna Solberg
Conservative

Background

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The last parliamentary elections in Norway were held on 9 September 2013. The outcome was a victory for the Conservatives and their populist right-wing allies. The Conservative Party, led by Erna Solberg, and the right-wing populist Progress Party formed a two-party minority government, with Solberg as Prime Minister. The two parties received confidence and supply from two centrist parties, the Liberals and the Christian Democrats.[3]

Electoral system

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The election used party-list proportional representation in nineteen multi-member constituencies, one for each of the counties of Norway.

The number of members to be returned from each constituency varies between 4 and 19. To determine the apportionment of the 169 seats amongst the 19 counties, a two-tier formula is used, based on population and geographic size. Each inhabitant counts one point, while each square kilometer counts 1.8 points.[4]

150 of the seats are regular district seats. These are awarded based on the election results in each county, and are unaffected by results in other counties. Nineteen of the seats (one for each county) are leveling seats, awarded to parties who win fewer seats than their share of the national popular vote otherwise entitles them to. A modification of the Sainte-Lague method, where the first quotient for each party is calculated using a divisor of 1.4 instead of 1, is used to allocate both the constituency and leveling seats. A party must win 4% of the popular vote in order to win compensation seats, but may still win district seats even if it fails to reach this threshold. The system for apportioning seats is biased in favour of rural areas since the area of the county is a factor, but the system of compensation seats reduces the effect this has on final party strength.[5]

Date

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According to the Norwegian constitution, parliamentary elections must be held every four years. The Norwegian parliament may not be dissolved before such a four-year term has ended, a rather rare trait of a political system found in few, if any democracies besides Norway and the USA.

On 22 April 2016, the Norwegian government announced that the date of the election is set to be Monday, 11 September 2017.[6] Additionally, each municipal council may vote to extend voting by one day, by also opening the polling stations on Sunday, 10 September.

Participating parties

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Eight political parties were represented in the Norwegian parliament prior to the election, all of whom went on to contest the 2017 election.

Additionally, the far-left Red Party led by Bjørnar Moxnes secured its first seat via a direct mandate in Oslo district. It had failed to secure representation in previous elections. The party is officially Communist in orientation and is a successor to the Red Electoral Alliance, which had previously won a seat in the 1993 election.

Campaign

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Slogans

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Party Original slogan English translation
Labour Party "Alle skal med" «Everyone must join»
Conservative Party "Vi tror på Norge" «We believe in Norway»
Progress Party
Christian Democratic Party
Centre Party "Senterpartiet skal stoppe sentraliseringa i Norge gjennom ei regjering for hele Norge" «Centre party shall stop the centralization in Norway through a government for all of Norway»
Liberal Party
Socialist Left Party
Red Electoral Alliance
Sources: [13][14][15]

Donations

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According to Statistisk sentralbyrå, a total of 67.34 million NOK in campaign contributions was raised by all political parties in 2017.[16]

Party Donations (NOK)
Labour Party 29,688,423
Conservative Party 15,363,600
Socialist Left Party 6,229,207
Progress Party 4,339,200
Centre Party 4,037,657
Liberal Party 3,633,991
Green Party 1,212,476
Red Party 1,149,862
Christian Democratic Party 145,230

Debates

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2017 Norwegian general election debates
Date Time Organisers  P  Present    I  Invitee  N  Non-invitee   A  Absent invitee.
Ap H Frp KrF Sp V Sv R MdG Refs
9 August Civita P
Jonas Gahr Støre
P
Erna Solberg
N
Siv Jensen
N
Knut Arild Hareide
N
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum
N
Trine Skei Grande
N
Audun Lysbakken
N
Bjørnar Moxnes
N
Une Bastholm
[17]
14 August 21:30 NRK P
Jonas Gahr Støre
P
Erna Solberg
P
Siv Jensen
P
Knut Arild Hareide
P
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum
P
Trine Skei Grande
P
Audun Lysbakken
P
Bjørnar Moxnes
P
Une Bastholm
[18]
29 August 21:30 NRK P
Jonas Gahr Støre
P
Erna Solberg
N
Siv Jensen
N
Knut Arild Hareide
N
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum
N
Trine Skei Grande
N
Audun Lysbakken
N
Bjørnar Moxnes
N
Une Bastholm
[19]
5 September 18:00 Dagen and Bergens Tidende N
Jonas Gahr Støre
N
Erna Solberg
P
Sylvi Listhaug
A
Knut Arild Hareide
N
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum
N
Trine Skei Grande
N
Audun Lysbakken
N
Bjørnar Moxnes
N
Une Bastholm
[20][21]
8 September 21:25 NRK P
Jonas Gahr Støre
P
Erna Solberg
P
Siv Jensen
P
Knut Arild Hareide
P
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum
P
Trine Skei Grande
P
Audun Lysbakken
P
Bjørnar Moxnes
P
Rasmus Hansson
[22]
12 September 21:30 NRK P
Jonas Gahr Støre
P
Erna Solberg
P
Siv Jensen
P
Knut Arild Hareide
P
Trygve Slagsvold Vedum
P
Trine Skei Grande
P
Audun Lysbakken
P
Bjørnar Moxnes
P
Une Bastholm
[23]

Opinion polls

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Seat predictions

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Results

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PartyVotes%Seats+/–
Labour Party800,94727.3749–6
Conservative Party732,89525.0445–3
Progress Party444,68115.1927–2
Centre Party302,01710.3219+9
Socialist Left Party176,2226.0211+4
Liberal Party127,9104.378–1
Christian Democratic Party122,7974.208–2
Green Party94,7883.2410
Red Party70,5222.411+1
Pensioners' Party12,8550.4400
Health Party [no]10,3370.350New
The Christians8,7000.3000
Capitalist Party5,5990.190New
Democrats in Norway3,8300.1300
Pirate Party3,3560.1100
The Alliance3,3110.110New
Coastal Party2,4670.0800
Nordmøre List [no]2,1350.070New
Feminist Initiative6960.020New
Communist Party3090.0100
Norway Party1510.010New
Party of Values [no]1480.010New
Society Party1040.0000
Northern Assembly [no]590.000New
Total2,926,836100.001690
Valid votes2,926,83699.20
Invalid/blank votes23,6950.80
Total votes2,950,531100.00
Registered voters/turnout3,765,24578.36
Source: valgresultat.no

Seat distribution

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Constituency Total
seats
Seats won
By party By coalition
A H FrP Sp SV V KrF MdG R Red-Greens Borgerlig Others
Akershus 17 5 6 3 1 1 1 7 10
Aust-Agder 4 1 1 1 1 1 3
Buskerud 9 3 2 2 1 1 5 4
Finnmark 5 2 1 1 1 3 2
Hedmark 7 2 1 1 2 1 5 2
Hordaland 16 4 5 2 2 1 1 1 7 9
Møre og Romsdal 9 2 3 2 1 1 3 6
Nord-Trøndelag 5 2 1 1 1 3 2
Nordland 9 2 2 2 2 1 5 4
Oppland 7 2 1 1 2 1 4 3
Oslo 19 5 6 2 2 2 1 1 7 10 2
Østfold 9 3 2 2 1 1 5 4
Rogaland 14 4 4 3 1 1 1 6 8
Sogn og Fjordane 4 1 1 1 1 2 2
Sør-Trøndelag 10 4 2 1 1 1 1 6 4
Telemark 6 2 1 1 1 1 3 3
Troms 6 2 1 1 1 1 4 2
Vest-Agder 6 1 2 1 2 1 5
Vestfold 7 2 3 1 1 2 4
Total 169 49 45 27 19 11 8 8 1 1 80 87 2
Source: Election Authority

Voter demographics

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Cohort Percentage of cohort voting for
Ap H FrP Sp Sv V KrF MDG R Others
Total vote 27.37% 25.04% 15.19% 10.32% 6.02% 4.37% 4.20% 3.24% 2.41%
Gender
Females 29.4% 23.7% 11.6% 9.6% 8.7% 4.9% 9.6% 3.7% 2.1%
Males 25.4% 26.3% 18.5% 11.1% 3.5% 3.9% 11.1% 2.8% 2.7%
Age
18–30 years old 22% 17.4% 12.7% 12.7% 8.5% 10.4% 3.5% 6.6% 3.1%
30-59 years old 28.4% 27.8% 13.3% 9.5% 6.2% 3.7% 3.6% 3.5% 2.6%
60 years old and older 28.5% 24.1% 20.3% 10.4% 4.4% 2.2% 5.5% 0.9% 1.8%
Work
low income 26% 21% 16.5% 12.9% 6.2% 4.3% 4.3% 4.1% 2.1%
Average income 27.9% 22.1% 17.1% 11% 7.1% 3.7% 4.5% 2.6% 2.8%
High income 29% 33.5% 11.2% 7.6% 4.7% 4.3% 3.7% 2.7% 1.8%
Education
Primary school 28.7% 22.3% 21.7% 13.1% 2.9% 3.2% 3.2% 1.6% 1%
High school 24.6% 25.1% 19.4% 11.9% 5.7% 3.4% 4% 2.6% 1.6%
University/college 28.9% 26.4% 9.5% 8.1% 7.7% 5.5% 4.6% 4.5% 3.4%
Source: Norwegian Institute for Social Research[25]

Results by municipality

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Aftermath

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Prime Minister Solberg set out to form a governing coalition between the Conservative Party, Progress Party, Liberal Party, and the Christian Democrats. In late September 2017, the Christian Democrats left coalition talks due to the inclusion of the Progress Party.[26]

On 14 January 2018, a government was formed by the Conservative Party, the Progress Party and the Liberal Party.[27]

The Christian Democrats voted at a party conference to join Solberg's government on 2 November 2018 and on 16 January 2019, Solberg's Conservatives struck a deal with the Christian Democratic Party. This marked the first time since 1985 that Norway would be getting a majority government representing right-wing parties in the Storting.[28][29]

On 20 January 2020, the Progress Party decided to withdraw from the government due to a decision by Solberg to repatriate a woman linked to Islamic State and her children back to Norway. Solberg said that she would continue to head a minority government and the other parties in the coalition (Liberal Party, Christian Democrats) said they would also continue to serve in it.[30][31][32]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Valgresultat.no". Valgresultat.no. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
  2. ^ "Valgresultat for Norge – Valg 2017". Nrk.no. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
  3. ^ "Drømmen om en bred borgerlig regjering er knust | BA". Ba.no. 2013-09-30. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  4. ^ "The main features of the Norwegian electoral system". Dagbladet. Retrieved November 29, 2009.
  5. ^ "Rødgrønt flertall uansett valgordning". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). September 28, 2009.
  6. ^ "Valgdagen blir 11. september 2017". Regjeringen.no. 22 April 2016.
  7. ^ "Høyre og konservatismen - Høyre". Hoyre.no. 2008-11-25. Archived from the original on 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  8. ^ Allern 2010, p. 26: "The Norwegian Progress Party is...traditionally characterised as a borderline case of the extreme or radical right (Ignazi 1992: 13–15; Kitschelt 1995: 121; Ignazi 2003: 157), and Mudde (2007:19) characterises FrP as a non-radical populist party"; see also: p.212.
  9. ^ Widfeldt 2014, p. 83: "The academic literature is not unanimous in classifying FrP as an extreme right party. Cas Mudde, in his book from 2007, argues that FrP does not belong to the populist radical right family... Instead, he classifies FrP as a "neoliberal populist party". Other writers, however, do place FrP in the same category...even if they in some cases do so with qualifications"; see also: p.16.
  10. ^ "Forskere: Frp er høyrepopulistisk", Verdens Gang (NTB), 14.09.2013. "- Ja, de er høyrepopulister. Men sammenlignet med andre slike partier i Europa er de en moderat utgave og har sterkere innslag av liberalkonservative strømninger, sier Jupskås." ("Yes, they are right-wing populists. But compared to similar parties in Europe, they are a moderate version, and have stronger elements of liberal-conservative currents, Jupskås (Anders Ravik Jupskås, lecturer Department of Political Science, University of Oslo) says.")
  11. ^ "Høyre og Frp frir til konservativt Sp - Aftenposten". Aftenposten.no. 2013-04-05. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  12. ^ "KrF og Venstre må holde sammen - Venstre". Venstre.no. 2013-03-09. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
  13. ^ "Historiske slagord og plakater". Arbeiderpartiet (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-03-19.
  14. ^ "Han rappet Erna Solbergs slagord. Slik skjedde det". www.aftenposten.no (in Norwegian Bokmål). 2017-03-24. Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  15. ^ Silsand, KrF-medlem; Mathiassen, Av Oddmar (2017-03-31). "«Slagord — forstå det den som kan»". folkebladet.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2024-03-24.
  16. ^ "Valgkampbidrag". SSB (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-07-07.
  17. ^ "170809 Debatt 'Valgkampens første duell mellom Erna Solberg og Jonas Gahr Støre'". 9 August 2017.
  18. ^ "Partilederdebatt". 15 August 2015.
  19. ^ "Partilederdebatt". 15 August 2015.
  20. ^ Duell mellom Listhaug og Hareide, retrieved 2024-02-17
  21. ^ "Hareide avlyser debatt med Listhaug". www.aftenbladet.no (in Norwegian Bokmål). 2017-09-05. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
  22. ^ "Partilederdebatt". 15 August 2015.
  23. ^ "Partilederdebatt". 15 August 2015.
  24. ^ "pollofpolls.no - Gjennomsnitt av nasjonale meningsmålinger om stortingsvalg". www.pollofpolls.no. Retrieved 2017-09-11.
  25. ^ "Kristelig Folkeparti - Valgforskning". Retrieved 16 February 2024.
  26. ^ "Norway's Christian Democrats Quit Government Negotiations". The Local. 28 September 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  27. ^ Erna Solberg: Her er den blågrønne regjeringens plattform NRK, 14 January 2018
  28. ^ Schaart, Eline (2018-11-02). "Norwegian government safe after Christian party votes to join its ranks". Politico Europe. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  29. ^ Henry, Galaxy (2019-01-18). "Norway: PM Solberg strikes deal to form center-right majority". Politico Europe. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
  30. ^ Tjernshaugen, Karen; Ole Ask, Alf; Ruud, Solveig; Magne, Kjetil. "Frp går ut av regjeringen. Nå er stolleken om hvem som skal overta statsrådspostene i gang". Aftenposten (in Norwegian Bokmål).
  31. ^ "Norway left with minority government after populists quit". ABC News.
  32. ^ "Norway PM Solberg says to stay in office with minority government".

Further reading

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