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2017 Norwegian parliamentary election

← 2013 11 September 2017 2021 →
← outgoing memberselected members →
All 169 seats in the Storting 85 seats are needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   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 6 3 2 Popular vote 800,947 732,895 444,681 Percentage 27.37% 25.04% 15.19% Swing 3.47 pp 1.77 pp 1.16 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   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 9 4 1 Popular vote 302,017 176,222 127,910 Percentage 10.32% 6.02% 4.37% Swing 4.84 pp 1.93 pp 0.86 pp   Seventh party Eighth party Ninth party   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 2 1 Popular vote 122,797 94,788 70,522 Percentage 4.20% 3.24% 2.41% Swing 1.39 pp 0.45 pp 1.33 pp
Most popular party in each electoral district (left) and municipality (right). Distribution of seats by electoral district.
Prime Minister before election Erna Solberg Conservative Prime Minister after election Erna Solberg Conservative

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. 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.

Background

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.

Electoral system

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.

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.

Date

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. Additionally, each municipal council may vote to extend voting by one day, by also opening the polling stations on Sunday, 10 September.

Participating parties

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

• The Labour Party (Ap) is with its 55 seats in parliament the largest party of the 2013-2017 parliament. Labour describes itself as a social-democratic party of the centre-left. The party is led by former minister of foreign affairs Jonas Gahr Støre, who has served as party leader and leader of the opposition since June 2014.
• The Conservative Party (H) is the largest party of the incumbent government. Currently, the Conservatives hold 48 seats, after having garnered close to 27 percent of the vote in the previous election. The Conservatives' party leader is Prime Minister Erna Solberg. The Conservative Party is considered to be a moderate centre-right party in the Norwegian political spectrum, and it officially subscribes to the liberal conservative ideology.
• The Progress Party (FrP) is led by Siv Jensen and currently serves as the junior partner in the Solberg cabinet. The party identifies as classical liberal and conservative-liberal. Political scientists broadly consider it a right-wing populist party, a label the party denies.
• The Christian Democratic Party (KrF) is a centre to centre-right party, based on Christian democratic values. The party is led by Knut Arild Hareide, and participated in the 2013 election as a proponent of the centre-right coalition led by the Conservatives.
• The Centre Party (Sp) is the fifth largest party in the Norwegian legislature, with 10 seats. Between 2005 and 2013 the party served as a junior partner in the Red-Green government. The party is led by Trygve Slagsvold Vedum. The party is centrist and primarily agrarian, with some conservative and some liberal factions.
• The Liberal Party (V) of Trine Skei Grande currently holds 9 seats in the Norwegian parliament. It claims to be the sole social-liberal party in the country, and positions itself in the centre of Norwegian politics. The Liberals have a close relationship with the Christian Democrats.
• The Socialist Left Party (SV) is the second smallest party in parliament, and campaigned for a third term as a part of the Red-Green coalition government in 2013. The party sees itself as democratic socialist and environmentalist. Since 2012, Audun Lysbakken has chaired the party.
• The Green Party (MDG) made its debut in the Norwegian parliament in the 2013 election, gaining a single seat from the Oslo district. The Greens have no official party leader, but rather two national spokespersons. Currently, these spokespersons are Une Aina Bastholm and Rasmus Hansson. The party distances itself from the left-right axis, and identifies as an environmentalist party.

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

Slogans

Donations

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

Debates

Opinion polls

• 30 day moving average of poll results since the 2013 election, with each line corresponding to a political party.

• Longer term polling results based on monthly averages from pollofpolls.
• Zoom on the smaller parties.

Seat predictions

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Labour Party	800,947	27.37	49	–6
	Conservative Party	732,895	25.04	45	–3
	Progress Party	444,681	15.19	27	–2
	Centre Party	302,017	10.32	19	+9
	Socialist Left Party	176,222	6.02	11	+4
	Liberal Party	127,910	4.37	8	–1
	Christian Democratic Party	122,797	4.20	8	–2
	Green Party	94,788	3.24	1	0
	Red Party	70,522	2.41	1	+1
	Pensioners' Party	12,855	0.44	0	0
	Health Party [no]	10,337	0.35	0	New
	The Christians	8,700	0.30	0	0
	Capitalist Party	5,599	0.19	0	New
	Democrats in Norway	3,830	0.13	0	0
	Pirate Party	3,356	0.11	0	0
	The Alliance	3,311	0.11	0	New
	Coastal Party	2,467	0.08	0	0
	Nordmøre List [no]	2,135	0.07	0	New
	Feminist Initiative	696	0.02	0	New
	Communist Party	309	0.01	0	0
	Norway Party	151	0.01	0	New
	Party of Values [no]	148	0.01	0	New
	Society Party	104	0.00	0	0
	Northern Assembly [no]	59	0.00	0	New
Total		2,926,836	100.00	169	0
Valid votes		2,926,836	99.20
Invalid/blank votes		23,695	0.80
Total votes		2,950,531	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		3,765,245	78.36
Source: valgresultat.no

Seat distribution

Voter demographics

Results by municipality

• Labour
• Conservative
• Progress
• Centre
• Socialist
• Liberal
• Christian
• Green
• Red

Aftermath

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.

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

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.

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.

See also

• 2017 Norwegian Sámi parliamentary election

References

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

• Allern, Elin Haugsgjerd (2010). Political Parties and Interest Groups in Norway. ECPR Press. ISBN 9780955820366.
• Bernt Arndal and Johannes Bergh. 2018. "The 2017 Norwegian election." West European Politics
• Widfeldt, Anders (2014). Extreme Right in Scandinavia. Routledge. ISBN 9781134502158.

v t e Elections and referendums in Norway
Parliamentary elections	1814 (Constitution) 1814 (Autumn) 1815 1817 1820 1823 1826 1829 1832 1835 1838 1841 1844 1847 1850 1853 1856 1859 1862 1865 1868 1870 1873 1876 1879 1882 1885 1888 1891 1894 1897 1900 1903 1906 1909 1912 1915 1918 1921 1924 1927 1930 1933 1936 1945 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 2025
Local elections	1898 1901 1904 1907 1910 1913 1916 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1934 1937 1945 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023
Sámi elections	1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021
Referendums	1905 (Aug) 1905 (Nov) 1919 1926 1972 1994

• 2017 elections in Europe
• 2017 in Norway
• General elections in Norway
• 2010s elections in Norway
• September 2017 events in Europe