Local referendums, 2012

Five of the local referendums that were held concerned the development of wind farms and environmental issues. Three out of four of the referendums concerning environmental issues registered since 1970 were held during the 2000s. The three other referendums in 2012 concerned what variant of the Norwegian language is preferable in primary and lower secondary schools. In total, Statistics Norway has registered 716 local referendums from 1970 to 2012 concerning different issues. A total of 311 of these have dealt with the different variants of the Norwegian language, while 22 concerned different environmental issues.

Referendums on the development of wind farms

Advisory referendums on the development of wind farms were held in Aremark municipality in Østfold and in Solund municipality in Sogn og Fjordane. These were the first local referendums to be held in these municipalities. In Aremark, 1 100 inhabitants were entitled to vote and the voter turnout was 76 per cent. About 54 per cent of the voters voted for the wind farm development.

Also in Solund municipality, the inhabitants were entitled to vote for or against the development of a wind farm in the municipality. In addition, they were asked to vote for or against three separate development choices of the wind farm. The voter turnout in these referendums was 63.6 per cent. A small majority of 51.6 per cent voted against the wind farm development. The municipal council followed the outcome of the referendum and recommended development of the wind farm in its comments on the licence application to Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE).

Low turnout in the language referendums

The voter turnout in the referendums held in 2012 varied substantially. Overall, the turnout was low, at 27.8 per cent. There have only been three years since 1970 when the turnout was lower. Nine of the ten years with the lowest turnout were in the 1990s and the 2000s. Last year, the turnout in referendums on what variant of the Norwegian language should be used in primary and lower secondary schools substantially pulled the voter turnout down.

The turnout was lowest among the 2 900 inhabitants entitled to vote in the language referendum at Otta primary and lower secondary schools in Sel municipality. Only 6.1 per cent cast their vote – which is the lowest turnout registered in one single language referendum. A majority of 57.5 per cent voted to change from New Norwegian (nynorsk) to the literary language (bokmål). In the aftermath of the referendum, the majority in the municipal council also voted to change the variant of the Norwegian language when processing the case.

The language referendums in Nord-Aurdal municipality and in Sola municipality also had a low voter turnout, with 10.8 and 16.7 per cent respectively.

The average voter turnout in the referendums held in the 2000s on what variant of the Norwegian language to use is 32.4 per cent. In 2012, the voter turnout in these referendums was 9.4 per cent.