Female chairmen in three out of ten municipalities

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Twenty-eight per cent of the chairmen in Norwegian municipal councils are women. This is an increase of six percentage points from the 2011 election when 96 of the chairmen were women. The Labour Party and the Centre Party gained most chairmen. Among the representatives in the municipal council, almost 4 out of 10 are women; an increase of 1 percentage point since the last election.

The proportion of women representatives elected to municipal councils is 39 per cent; an increase of 1 percentage point since the last election. In the executive committees of the municipal councils there are 43 per cent women. Among the deputy chairmen, the share of women is now 43 per cent, which is an increase of 7 percentage points since the last election. In about 30 municipal councils, the women are in the majority. In about half of the municipal councils the proportion of women is less than 40 per cent. In 25 municipal councils, the proportion of women is as low as 25 per cent.

Figure 1

Figure 1. Percentage of female chairmen, female executive commitee and female representatives in municipal councils

The Labour Party and The Centre Party gained most chairmen

Labour gained most chairmen in the municipal councils, and now have 201. Forty-seven per cent of all municipalities have a chairman from The Labour Party, compared to 36 per cent in the last election. The Centre Party also gained more chairmen, and now have chairmen in almost 100 municipalities, which corresponds to 23 per cent of the municipalities. The Conservative Party lost the most chairmen, dropping from 119 to 74.

Figure 3

Figure 3. Chairmen and members of local counsils by party. 2015

Males aged 46 to 66 dominate

There is a clear over-representation of men aged 45-66 years among the representatives in the municipal councils, compared to the distribution in the electorate. Women over the age of 66 have the weakest representation in municipal councils.

Figure 2

Figure 2. Representatives by age and gender. Municipal councils elections 2015

5 in 10 representatives have a higher education

Fifty-one per cent of the representatives in the municipal councils have a higher education. This is an increase of five percentage points compared with the election four years ago, and a further increase compared with the election eight years ago. In 2007, 43 per cent of the representatives had a higher education. In comparison, about 30 per cent of the population have a higher education.

Figure 4

Figure 4. Representatives in municipal councils by level of education

3 per cent of the representatives have an immigrant background

A total of 320 representatives in the municipal councils have an immigrant background. This corresponds to 3 per cent and is an increase of half a percentage point from the previous election. A total of 101 representatives are foreign citizens, 186 are immigrants who have taken Norwegian citizenship, and 33 are Norwegian-born citizens who are children of immigrants.

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