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This is an archived release.
As from 6 November 2019 electoral turnout in the municipal and county council election will be published with the statistics Electoral turnout.
NB! Not updated for 2019. Please see The Norwegian Directorate of Elections for 2019 results.
Voter turnout decreased in most municipalities
The turnout in the municipal elections this autumn was 60.0 per cent; a decrease of 4.2 percentage points compared to the 2011 municipal elections. Sixty-five of the 428 municipalities saw an increase in voter turnout, while the remainder saw a decrease.
| Valid votes | Valid votes | Votes in per cent | Changes from previous election | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 2015 | 2011 | 2015 | ||
| Labour Party | 767 641 | 789 170 | 31.7 | 33.0 | 1.3 |
| Progress Party | 275 559 | 226 640 | 11.4 | 9.5 | -1.9 |
| Conservative Party | 678 732 | 554 399 | 28.0 | 23.2 | -4.8 |
| Christian Democratic Party | 135 157 | 130 268 | 5.6 | 5.4 | -0.2 |
| Centre Party | 163 382 | 203 188 | 6.7 | 8.5 | 1.8 |
| Socialist Left Party | 98 667 | 98 625 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 0.0 |
| Liberal Party | 152 055 | 131 836 | 6.3 | 5.5 | -0.8 |
| Norwegian green Party | 21 863 | 101 612 | 0.9 | 4.2 | 3.3 |
| The Pensioners' Party | 20 002 | 18 569 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.0 |
| The Red party of Norway | 37 363 | 47 102 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 0.5 |
| Other lists | 9 892 | 13 028 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| Local lists | 50 647 | 61 238 | 2.1 | 2.6 | 0.5 |
| Other lists | 14 329 | 16 706 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.1 |
Utsira experienced the highest turnout, with 84.3 per cent. Hammerfest experienced the lowest turnout with 50.2 per cent. The Green Party increased their share of votes by 3.3 percentage points, gaining votes in all of the municipalities where they stood for election and in all of the counties in the county council elections.
In total 2 411 126 persons cast a vote in the municipal elections. This is a decline of about 29 300 voters compared to the municipal elections in 2011. In the county council elections, 2 240 073 persons voted, which is a decrease of about 31 000 compared with the county council elections in 2011.
The disparities in turnout between municipalities in the municipal elections increased compared with 2011 and 2007. In 2007, the disparity between the highest and lowest turnout was 31 percentage points, in 2011 it was 32 percentage points and in 2015 was 34 percentage points.
Second worst voter turnout in the county council elections
The overall voter turnout in the county council elections in 2015 was 55.9 per cent; a decline of 4 percentage points from 2011. Turnout at this year's county council elections is the second worst turnout in county council elections since 2003 (55.6 per cent). The 2003 elections showed the lowest turnout since separate elections for county councils were introduced in 1975. Voter turnout decreased in all counties, with a decline of between 2.3 to 6.1 percentage points.
The Green Party increased their share of votes by 3.3 percentage points, gaining votes in all of the municipalities where they stood for election and in all of the counties in the county council elections. The Centre Party increased their share of votes in both elections. In the municipal elections they increased their share of votes by 1.8 percentage points, giving a total of 8.5 per cent. In the county council elections they gained 2.9 percentage points, giving a total of 9.2 per cent.
The Labour Party had a share of 33.9 per cent
The Labour Party increased their share of votes by 1.3 percentage point in the municipal elections, giving a total of 33.0 per cent. In the county council elections, the Labour Party had a share of 33.9 per cent. The Conservative Party experienced a decrease by 4.8 percentage points and The Progress Party experienced a decrease of 1.9 percentage points in the municipal elections. The Conservative Party and Progress Party now have a share of 23.2 and 11.0 per cent respectively.
A total of 24.3 per cent of the votes were cast in advance in the local elections in 2015; an increase of 1.9 percentage points from the 2011 elections.
The number of rejected votes in the municipal elections was 3 270. This is about the same level as in previous elections. The number of rejected votes in the county council elections was 3 800, which is an increase compared to 2011. In total, 15 470 blank votes were cast in the municipal elections. In the county council elections, 28 070 blank votes were cast, which accounts for approximately one per cent of total votes cast.
Contact
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Øyvin Kleven
E-mail: oyvin.kleven@ssb.no
tel.: (+47) 45 88 89 37
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Espen Andersen
E-mail: espen.andersen@ssb.no
tel.: (+47) 92 61 00 46
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Statistics Norway's Information Centre
E-mail: informasjon@ssb.no
tel.: (+47) 21 09 46 42