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Norway

Franchise & Registration

  • Franchise Age: 18
  • Exception Franchise Age: 17 permitted to vote in parliamentary elections if 18 in the year the election is held
  • Compulsory Vote: Not compulsory
  • Eligibility Exception: sentence for certain criminal offences (such as felonies committed against the independence and security of the State) and work in the service of a foreign State without the consent of the government
  • Right Vote Foreign Res: Foreign residents right to vote for local elections or equivalent only
  • Expat Residency Requirement: Expatriate citizens always have right to vote with no time limit
  • Registration Type: Automatic registration
  • Registration Basis: Residence requirement

Election Management & Enforcement

  • Nameof EMB: Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation. Directorate of Elections
  • Independent EMB: No
  • Who Runs Election: Local Councils
  • Nameof Elect Enforcement Body: National Election Committee (Riksvalgstyret)

Candidacy & Campaign Rules

  • Restrictto Candidacy: Qualified electors; age: 18 years; Norwegian citizenship. Disqualifications: Ministry staff (with the exception of ministers, State secretaries and political advisers), Supreme Court judges, members of the diplomatic corps or the consular service.
  • Debate Average: 2
  • Debate Format: OSCE 2009: A first election debate with leaders from the seven parliamentary parties and the Red Party25 opened the NRK’s special campaign schedule. The same formula was adopted for the final debate, the last Friday before election day. The Green Party and the Democratic Party argued that small parties not represented in the Parliament were scarcely covered on NRK.
  • Opinion Polls Embargo: Embargo on election day only

Electoral System & Organisation

  • Elect System Main Election: Proportional with threshold
  • Main Election Type: Parliamentary
  • Main Election Cycle: 4
  • Numb Round Main Election: One
  • Referenda_Law: Referenda are always held on an ad hoc basis when a majority of the parliament calls for one. The parliament and local councils may organize advisory referendums on any issue.
  • Referenda_Binding: Wiki: The Norwegian Constitution does not mention referendums at all, and as such, referendums are not a part of Norwegian political practice. However, six advisory referendums have been held in Norway, most notably, the referendums on Norwegian EU membership, and the referendum for dissolving the union with Sweden. It is worth noting that these referendums, and potential future referendums, although legitimate as part of Norwegian constitutional convention, will not have any legal binding: They will merely be advisory, and the final decision will be taken by the Norwegian parliament, who may choose (albeit unlikely) to disregard the will of the Norwegian people as expressed through the referendum.
  • Rules Non Fixed Term: Norway is unusual in that the legislature cannot be dissolved early (a trait it shares with the United States but few other countries): the Storting always serves its full four-year term; the constitution does not allow snap elections, nor does it give the monarch the right to dissolve parliament even if the government wants to do so.
  • Voting Machine: None
  • Vote IDRequired: ID check compulsory
  • Polling Card: Polling card sent but not compulsory
  • National Holiday Elect Day: Never
  • Dayof Election: Monday
  • Districting Source: EMB
  • Districting Flexibility: The country is divided into 19 constituencies. Each county constitutes a constituency.

Polling Station

  • Average Voterby Polling Station: 828
  • Normal Opening Time Poll Station: 900
  • Normal Closing Time Poll Station: 2100
  • Polling Station Numbers: 3943
  • Listof Polling Station Buildings: public buildings
  • Accessibility Requirement: Party to UNCRPD. Municipalities are obliged to facilitate the casting of votes in all polling stations and to ensure that all voters can access the premises on their own. However, if a polling station is not accessible to a voter with reduced mobility, such a voter can cast their vote directly outside the polling station. In such cases, two presiding officers will come out, provide any necessary assistance and receive the vote.
  • Personnel Number Requirement: 3
  • Ballot Box Transparency: Fully opaque
  • Box Feeding System: Voter
  • Vote Receipt: No receipt
  • Count Locallyor Centrally: locally
  • Manualor Automatic Count: manual

Ballot Paper

  • Ballot Type: Paper
  • Singleor Multi Paper Ballot: Multiple
  • Ballot Paper Type Description: You can do this by placing a cross in the box next to the name of each candidate you want to vote for. You may give personal votes to as many candidates as you wish. You may also write the name of any candidate from other parties or groups you wish to vote for in the space provided on the ballot paper. Instructions on the ballot paper will indicate how many candidate names you can enter. After choosing which party to vote for and made the changes you want to make, you must fold each of the ballot papers in such a way as to conceal the party name, but keeping the space for the stamp still visible. In this way, no one can see how you are voting. The ballot papers should not be placed in any sort of envelope or cover. Then approach a polling officer and get your ballot papers stamped on the outside. Both ballot papers must be stamped in order to be valid.
  • Ballot Logos: Freely Allowed
  • Orderof Candidatesor Parties: Other

Remote Voting

  • Temporal Remote Voting: Automatic right
  • Geographical Remote Voting: Automatic right
  • Personal Remote Voting: No
  • Time Temporal Remote: 2
  • Remote Voting List: all electors may vote in advance for parliamentary and municipal elections, both at home and abroad. Advance voting must take place no later than the last Friday before election day. Advance voting at home takes place in health and social welfare institutions, where the Electoral Committee in each municipality decides and at their homes, on application by disabled people to the Electoral Committee. Abroad advance voting takes place at Norwegian Foreign Service missions and where the Ministry decides. Proxy Vote
  • Mobile Polling Stations: Yes

Special Needs

  • Provision First Time Voters: GOTV Campaign
  • Provision Illiterate Voters: Electors who need assistance in performing the act of voting may ask the polling committee for necessary help. Any voter with a serious mental or physical disability may choose an extra helper among those persons who are present.
  • Provision Linguistic Ethnic Minorites: information available in other languages
  • Provision Blind Voters: Representation of the People Regulations (2003, last amended 2013). Article 26 states: In connection with the organisation of voting in polling stations, importance shall be attached to providing good accessibility to all voters. Blind and partially sighted voters shall be able to vote without having to request assistance.
  • Provision Deaf Voters: Electors who need assistance in performing the act of voting may ask the polling committee for necessary help. Any voter with a serious mental or physical disability may choose an extra helper among those persons who are present.
  • Provision Motor Handicap Voters: Electors who need assistance in performing the act of voting may ask the polling committee for necessary help. Any voter with a serious mental or physical disability may choose an extra helper among those persons who are present.

Targeted Initiatives

  • Failed Experiments: Online voting for 2011 local and 2013 national elections was made available in some districts. In 2014, i-voting was discontinued for security reasons.
  • Transparency Initiative: Political party and campaign finance are regulated by a sound legal framework, including requirements on campaign donation disclosure and annual reporting serving to ensure transparency.

Inclusivity Provisions