Norway general election
In Norway, elections are held every second year, changing between elections for the Parliament and local elections which both is held on a 4-year basis.
Suffrage is universal to every person that is 18 years old or turns 18 later the same year the election is held.
Norway is divided in 19 counties, and each county is a constituency in the election. Each county elects a preselected number of seats in the Parliament (Stortinget) based mainly on the population and geographical area of the county. This practise has been critizised because in some larger counties with sparse population a single vote counts more than in other tighter populated counties. Other again claim that counties with a scattered and sparse population and who are situated far away the central administration in Oslo should have a stronger representation in the Parliament. In the more recent elections a vote in Finnmark county has counted twice as much as in Akershus county or Oslo county.
After the votes are counted and the members of the Parliament are designated their respective seats of their county, levelling seats are divided to parties who got fewer seat than their election result percentage would suggest. Only parties with more than 4% of the votes on a national basis are entitled levelling seats due to the border limit. The practice of levelling seats was adopted in 1989.
The distribution of the seats of the parliament by county (165 in total):
The distrubtion of seats of the Parliament by political party (2001-05):
Note: Independent refers to Jan Simonsen who was a member of the Progress Party when elected, but is now excluded from the party.
Referenced By
Elections (Norway) | Norway election
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