Storting election

Persons entitled to vote

The requirements are stated in § 50 of the Constitution and the Election Act § 3. Norwegian citizens 18 years or older during the election year, and having been registered as residing in Norway during the last 10 years, will automatically be included in the electoral roll. Furthermore, Norwegian citizens having been resident abroad for a continuous period of more than 10 years can demand to be included in the electoral roll.

Submitted votes

The number of votes should be the same as the number crossed out in the Electoral list. In practical terms this means all valid and rejected votes.

Rejected votes

Votes that in one way or another are not approved or empty envelopes.

Valid votes

The number of approved votes after controls

Elected representatives

The statistics covering the Parliamentary Election comprise elected representatives. The representatives who prior to the election permanently met in Parliament in stead of the representatives who had become members of Government, are therefore included among the vice-representatives.

Re-elected and newly elected representatives

Elected representatives at the election, who have earlier been permanent representatives due to deaths, are included under the heading "met as vice-representative". The same applies to previous vice-representatives who have met permanently for the Government members.

Regions

From the election in 1997 the country's regions are grouped as follows: 1. Oslo and Akershus 2. Hedmark and Oppland 3. South-Eastern Norway: Østfold, Buskerud, Vestfold and Telemark 4. Agder/Rogaland: Aust-Agder, Vest-Agder and Rogaland 5. Western Norway: Hordaland, Sogn og Fjordane and Møre og Romsdal 6. Trøndelag: Sør-Trøndelag and Nord-Trøndelag 7. Nothern Norway: Nordland, Troms and Finmark

Classification of municipalities, centralization

In some tables, the country's municipalities are classifies in 8 different groups based on their business, industry and centrality. The classification is documented in "Standard for kommuneklassifisering 1994". This standard is valid from the election in 1997 onwards. Centrality is also used as a concept by itself.

Name: Storting election
Topic: Elections

Division for Population Statistics

Municipality level. For chosen municipalities tabulations are also made with percentage distribution of accepted votes cast among the largest parties on circuit/city district level.

Every fourth year (election year).

The computer files are stored at Statistics Norway and at the NSD - Norwegian Centre for Research Data for research purposes.

The purpose is to produce official statistics covering the Parliamentary election. The first official statistics from Parliamentary elections were for the elections in 1815-1855 (NOS III 219). Some of the figures from these elections, in particular prior to 1826, were estimated. As a result, we only have figures for the number of people entitled to vote and elected representatives. Statistics concerning the elections in 1888 and 1891 were published in Meddelelser from the Statistiske Centralbureau, elections in 1894 and 1897 were published in NOS Valgmandsvalgene og Stortingsvalgene, 1900 and 1903 were published in NOS Valgtingene og valgmandstingene, and 1906 onwards in NOS Stortingsvalget. Statistics Norway produced the statistics up until 1903 and again from 1961 onwards. From 1903 through 1961 the statistics were produced at the Parliament's office. In Historisk Statistikk (Historical Statistics) one can find information on the number of votes for each party and representatives elected back to 1906. For people entitled to vote, elected representatives and election participation, information exists from the beginning of the 19th century.

The political parties and journalists are frequent users of the statistics. The Ministries, for calculating the governmental financial support for each party, as well as municipalities and counties also make use of the statistics. Students, in particular those studying political science, and election researchers are other users. Foreign journalists, researchers and students also require statistics on the Parliamentary elections.

Statistics Act § 10 and Election Act § 15-7.

The statistics comprise the results from the election in all municipalities. The number of people entitled to vote is collected, as well as the number of people voting on election day and in advance, votes rejected and approved votes cast for each political party, and elected regional mandates and equalizing mandates.

Forms sent by the county election councils up till the Parliamentary election 2001. At the 2005 election, Statistics Norway received the data as files sent from the Ergo Group. From the Parliamentary election 2009, internet based forms will be sent from the county election councils.

Total count.

The county councils' election reports form the basis for the production of the statistics. Including 1997, these were supplied with forms sent from Statistics Norway to the municipalities.

Computerized controls when registering the figures, mostly summarizing controls and logic coherence controls.

Statistics for the different political parties are to be found from the beginning of the 20th century. During World War II no elections took place. At municipality level, the statistics are insufficient for the earliest elections. Some of the political parties have changed their names. This is referred to in footnotes in the historical tables.

The number of submitted and rejected votes are uncertain in some municipalities. This is due to inaccuracy in keeping the Election List and errors in the Election Book. Misunderstandings of the concepts rejected voting / rejected vote also occur. Rejected voting occurs when a persons appears, but due to different reasons, the voting is not accepted. When this occurs, the person's name should not be marked in the Electoral List and these votes should normally not be included in the statistics. This is, however, marked in the election protocol, and in some cases wrongfully as rejected votes (ballot papers). When revising the votes, submitted and rejected votes in some cases must be adjusted / corrected by judgment, where the municipalities are unable to locate the errors.