Einar H. Dyvik
Research expert covering Nordics and global data for society, economy, and politics
Stortingsvalg - Parliamentary election in Norway 2021 - Statistics & Facts
The Norwegian parliamentary election in 2021 was held on September 12 and 13, 2021. It was won by the Labour Party in terms of share of votes and number of mandates, whereas the Centre Party grew most from the last election. The Labour Party, the Centre Party, and the Socialist Left Party will form a new government under the leadership of Labour leader Jonas Gahr Støre, who will be the next Prime Minister of Norway. He will replace the center-right government led by Erna Solberg of the Conservative Party, who led the country over the last eight years, which makes her the longest-serving Conservative Prime Minister in the history of Norway. Her party was the senior partner in a coalition government with the Christian Party and the Liberal Party. In the 2021 election, the Christian Party fell under the electoral threshold for the first time since World War II. Initially, the Progress Party was also a part of the coalition, but the party decided to leave the government in January 2020, following a disagreement over the repatriation of women with connections to the Islamic State.
A high share of women in the parliament
In Norway, 169 representatives from 19 electoral districts are elected to the Storting (the Norwegian parliament) every four years through a proportional representation system, in which the parties who pass the four percent electoral threshold receive roughly the same share of seats as share of votes. Oslo has the highest number of voters and sends 19 representatives to the Storting, whereas Sogn og Fjordane is the smallest and sends only four. The total number of eligible voters has been growing steadily since 1945, and in 2021, 3.88 million people were entitled to vote in Norway's parliamentary election. Of these, 77.2 percent voted in the election, one percentage point less than in 2017. In 2021, there were slightly more female registered voters in Norway, and all Norwegian citizens over the age of 18 are automatically registered to vote (except in extremely rare circumstances). Moreover, the share of women in the parliament grew to a record-high 45.6 percent after the election.The candidates: well-educated and well-paid
Most of the political parties in Norway have a high share of female candidates on their nomination lists. With the exception of the Progress Party and other parties, more than 45 percent of the candidates of the major political parties for the parliamentary election in Norway in 2021 were women. Furthermore, a relatively high proportion of the candidates earn more than one million Norwegian Kroner annually. This is particularly true for the male candidates of the Conservative Party. Moreover, a high share of the candidates are well educated, while most of the parties’ candidates have at least a tertiary level of education. While the Green Party has the candidates with the highest educational level among the male candidates, over half of the Progress Party’s male candidates have an upper secondary education.
