Norwegian parliamentary election, 2017
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The next Norwegian parliamentary election is set for 11 September 2017.[1] The Norwegian legislature, the Storting, will be elected for a new four-year term. All the 169 parliamentary seats will be contested.
Previous election
The last parliamentary elections in Norway were held on 9 September 2013. The outcome was a victory for the Conservatives and their right-wing allies. The Conservative Party, led by Erna Solberg, and the right-wing 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.[2]
Date
According to the Norwegian constitution, parliamentary elections must be held every four years. Rather uniquely, the Norwegian parliament may not be dissolved before such a parliamentary four-year term has ended, which in practice makes snap elections impossible to hold without breaking the constitutional electoral law of the country.
On 22 April 2016, the Norwegian government announced that the date of the election is set to be Monday, 11 September 2017.[3] Additionally, each municipal council may vote to extend voting by one day, by also opening the polling stations on Sunday, 10 September.
Participating parties
There are currently eight political parties represented in the Norwegian parliament, all of whom are likely to participate in the 2017 elections.
- 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.[4]
- 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,[5][6][7] a label the party denies.
- The Christian Democratic Party (KrF) is a centrist 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 primarily agrarian, with some conservative and some liberal factions.[8]
- 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.[9]
- 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.
Opinion polling
- 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.
References
- ↑ Valgdagen blir 11. september 2017
- ↑ "Drømmen om en bred borgerlig regjering er knust | BA". Ba.no. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
- ↑ Valgdagen blir 11. september 2017
- ↑ "Høyre og konservatismen - Høyre". Hoyre.no. 2008-11-25. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ "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.")
- ↑ "Høyre og Frp frir til konservativt Sp - Aftenposten". Aftenposten.no. 2013-04-05. Retrieved 2015-05-14.
- ↑ "KrF og Venstre må holde sammen - Venstre". Venstre.no. 2013-03-09. Retrieved 2015-05-14.