Storting

Storting

logo	Storting building on Eidsvolls plass
Basic data
Seat:	Oslo
Legislative period :	4 years
First session:	1814
MPs:	169
Current legislative period
Last choice:	11th September 2017
Chair:	Storting President Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen ( H )
1 11 1 49 19th 8th 45 8th 26th 1 1 11 1 49 19th 8th 45 8th 26th 1
Distribution of seats:	Government (61) H 45 V 8 KrF 8 Opposition (108) Ap 49 FrP 26 Sp 19 SV 11 MDG 1 R 1 non-attached 1
Website
stortinget.no

The Storting ( Norwegian , literally "Grand Assembly" or the "Big Thing ") is the parliament of Norway with its seat in Oslo . Storting has the task of passing laws, deciding on the budget and controlling the work of the government. The number of MPs is 169. 150 of them are elected in the 19 constituencies, each of which forms a multi-mandate constituency. The remaining 19 seats are attributable to compensation mandates calculated nationwide . One of these compensatory mandates is distributed in each constituency. Until the 2017 parliamentary elections , the constituencies matched the provinces ( Fylker ). The same constituencies will continue to be used for the 2021 election, although they are no longer congruent with the provinces after the state- wide regional reform.

In the plenary session of parliament, the members of parliament do not sit together in parliamentary groups, but rather separately according to their home province. The legislative period was set for four years in 1938; early termination is not possible. By 2009 three quarters of the Storting MPs formed the Odelsting and the remaining quarter formed the Lagting .

It has existed in Eidsvoll since the adoption of the Norwegian Constitution on May 17, 1814 and also existed during the personal union with Sweden, which lasted until 1905. Parliamentarism prevailed in 1884, and since then the government has been dependent on the formation of a majority in Storting. While the Liberals initially dominated parliament, the Social Democratic Labor Party has been the largest parliamentary group since 1927 , with an absolute majority from 1945 to 1961.

Assignment of mandates

Ballot box in Norway with a picture of the Norwegian coat of arms

In Norway, proportional representation has been in force since 1919 , with representatives of the people being elected in free, equal, direct and secret elections. Elections for the storting only take place every four years, as there are no options to dissolve the storting or to schedule new elections. In addition, there are no by- elections. The right to vote have all the Norwegians, who have reached the age of 18. About the passive right all those who have lived in Norway at least ten years have. Ministerial officials and diplomats are excluded from this regulation and therefore do not have passive voting rights. In the general election in Norway in 2013 , the turnout was 78.2 percent.

The candidates of the parties are sorted on lists. A law regulates the procedure by which the parties nominate their candidates; however, it is not binding, so it is only of an advisory nature. In practice, the power to nominate lies with the active members of the party, although central party authorities have different ways of influencing the nomination of candidates by the regional and local party organizations.

The current electoral system was introduced in 2003 and was used for the first time in the Storting election in 2005. At this point in time, the constituencies matched the provinces. The number of members of the Storting rose from 165 to 169.Significant changes were that by increasing the number of compensatory mandates from 8 to 19, the number of seats of the parties corresponds more closely than before to their share of the votes and that the number of seats in the constituencies will in future be regularly adjusted to the population development while Until then, they mostly remained unchanged for decades.

The 169 seats in the Storting are distributed among the 19 constituencies as follows: First, the so-called distribution number is calculated for each constituency by adding the population of the constituency and 1.8 times its area in square kilometers (with 150,000 inhabitants and 20,000 km² area would be the distribution number e.g. 150,000 + 1.8 × 20,000 = 186,000). Based on their distribution numbers, the seats are then allocated proportionally to the constituency using the Sainte-Laguë procedure . The number of seats is recalculated every eight years. By taking into account the area of ​​the constituencies, relatively densely populated areas (particularly Oslo and Akershus ) are underrepresented, although this underrepresentation was greater until 2003.

In each constituency, all but one of the seats are distributed proportionally to the parties using the so-called balanced method , a modification of the Sainte-Laguë procedure (first divisor 1.4 instead of 1). There is no threshold clause for this. In the largest constituencies around 4% are needed to get a seat, in the smaller constituencies over 10%. The seat that has not yet been allocated serves as a compensation mandate.

The compensation mandates are distributed at national level. For this purpose, 169 seats are distributed proportionally to the parties according to the number of votes they have nationwide using the Sainte-Laguë procedure ; a 4% threshold applies to this. If a party has already won more seats in the constituencies than it is entitled to based on its nationwide number of votes, or if a party has won seats at constituency level that failed because of the nationwide threshold, it retains these "overhang mandates". The other parties will then be allocated fewer seats accordingly. The individual parties receive as many compensatory mandates in addition to the seats already won at constituency level until they have reached the number of seats calculated at national level. Each of the 19 compensation mandates is then assigned to one of the 19 constituencies in a complicated process.

Within the party list, the seats are filled according to the order of the list. Voters have the option of changing the order or removing certain applicants from the list. In practice, however, it has been shown that such changes have no effect. After the 2017 elections, it was found that voters in Oslo had above all removed the top candidates and candidates with foreign-sounding names from the lists, but without ultimately changing the list.

composition

Until 2009, the Storting split into two chambers for advising on draft laws , Odelsting and Lagting . For all other tasks (general debate, control of the government, question time, etc.) the parliament met as one. The division into two chambers was abolished in 2007 with effect from 2009, so that the Storting is now a purely one-chamber parliament .

Current allocation of seats

After the parliamentary elections in 2017, there were initially 27 FrP members in Storting. In April 2019, however , Ulf Leirstein resigned from the party, which is why the group now consists of 26 people.

logo		Political party	Alignment	Party presidency	Seats
		Arbeiderpartiet (Ap) Labor Party	social democratic	Jonas Gahr Støre	49
		Høyre (H) on the right	conservative	Erna Solberg	45
		Fremskrittspartiet (FrP) progress party	right-wing populist	Siv Jensen	26th
		Senterpartiet (Sp) center party	agrarian	Trygve Slagsvold Vedum	19th
		Sosialistisk Venstreparti (SV) Socialist Left Party	democratic-socialist	Audun Lysbakken	11
		Kristelig Folkeparti (KrF) Christian People's Party	Christian Democratic	Kjell Ingolf Ropstad	8th
		Venstre (V) left	social liberal	Trine Skei Grande	8th
		Miljøpartiet De Grønne (MDG) Environment party The Greens	green	Une Aina Bastholm	1
		Rødt (R) red	Communist	Bjornar Moxnes	1
		non-attached			1
total					169

Allocation of seats 1945–2017

A minority coalition consisting of the conservative Høyre (H) and the right-wing populist Fremskrittspartiet (FrP), which is tolerated and supported by the Christian democratic Kristelig Folkeparti (KrF) and the socially liberal Venstre (V), has ruled since 2013. By 2017 this coalition had 77 out of 169 seats, with the two supporting parties the government had 96 out of 169 seats.

In the 2017 election , the Arbeiderpartiet (Ap), the strongest parliamentary group, lost 6 seats, the Høyre (H) 3 seats, the Fremskrittspartiet (FrP) 1 seat, the Kristelig Folkeparti (KrF) 2 seats and the Venstre (V) 1 seat. The Rødt (R) party, founded in 2007, won a seat for the first time. The socialist Sosialistisk Venstreparti (SV) and the agrarian Senterpartiet (Sp) can be seen as the “winners” of the 2017 election, as they increase the number of their mandates, alongside the R could: the SV received 11 and the Sp 18 out of 169 mandates. The bourgeois minority government of the Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg , supported by Christian Democrats and social liberals, can continue to govern despite the losses of all partners.

The following table shows the distribution of seats in Storting from 1945:

Political party		1945	1949	1953	1957	1961	1965	1969	1973	1977	1981	1985	1989	1993	1997	2001	2005	2009	2013	2017
	Workers' part (Ap)	76	85	77	78	74	68	74	62	76	66	71	63	67	65	43	61	64	55	49
	Høyre (H)	25th	23	27	29	29	31	29	29	41	53	50	37	28	23	38	23	30th	48	45
	Fremskrittspartiet (FrP)								4th	-	4th	2	22nd	10	25th	26th	38	41	29	27
	Venstre (V)	20th	21st	15th	15th	14th	18th	13	2	2	2	-	-	1	6th	2	10	2	9	8th
	Kristelig Folkeparti (KrF)	8th	9	14th	12	15th	13	14th	20th	22nd	15th	16	14th	13	25th	22nd	11	10	10	8th
	Senterpartiet (Sp)	10	12	14th	15th	16	18th	20th	21st	12	11	12	11	32	11	10	11	11	10	19th
	Sosialistisk Venstreparti (SV)								16	2	4th	6th	17th	13	9	23	15th	11	7th	11
	Miljøpartiet De Grønne (MDG)												-	-	-	-	-	-	1	1
	Norges Kommunistiske Parti (NKP)	11	-	3	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	Rødt (R)																		-	1
	Others	-	-	-	-	2	2	-	1	-	-	-	1	1	1	1	-	-	-	-
total		150	150	150	150	150	150	150	155	155	155	157	165	165	165	165	169	169	169	169

Election results in percent

Functions

Plenary Chamber of the Storting

legislation

Legislation is a central task of the Norwegian parliament. The great majority of the laws are government bills. The right of the government to initiate legislation is enshrined in the constitution. The role of Parliament is to give its opinion on the drafts, introduce amendments and additions and finally approve or reject the proposal.

Until 2009, at the first session after the election, the parliament was divided into two departments, the Odelsting with three-quarters of the Storting members and the Lagting , to which the other members of parliament belonged. Laws were introduced in the Odelsting. After its approval, the Lagting had to agree. If the Lagting rejected the bill twice, the Storting decided with a two-thirds majority.

Worldwide unique is the possibility that citizens can initiate legislative proposals outside of the storting, which, however, requires that a member of parliament accepts the proposal. It does not have to mean that this Member agrees with the content of the initiative.

Finally, a law is confirmed by the king. The king formally has a right of veto, which has not been used since 1905 and could also be overruled by the Storting if it passes the same resolution again after the next parliamentary election. In this respect, the role of the king in the course of legislation today is only of a state notarial nature.

In addition to draft bills , the government also prepares official briefings ( stortingsmelding ), which compiles information to ensure broad parliamentary debate on controversial issues.

household

An important task of the Storting is to decide on the annual budget . The parliament decides on the collection of taxes and the distribution of state expenditure. When the Storting meets in the fall, the financial budget is always the first point to be dealt with. The government is responsible for drawing up the budget. The various branches of the state administrations bring in their calculations and demands for the financial year as do the individual ministers, whereupon the government sets various priorities and draws up a budget. The budget discussion held in Parliament is mostly divided into a general part and a part to discuss the individual items. In the general part, the opposition has the opportunity to present its alternatives. Because the working out of the budget takes up a lot of space in the work of the storting, there is a time limit of two and a half months in which the finished budget must be developed. In practice, the Storting agrees with the government's proposal with small changes, as the financial differences are less than one percent.

Control of the executive branch

Oil and Energy Minister Åslaug Haga during question time on November 22, 2007

In addition to legislation and financial sovereignty, the third main function of the storting is the parliamentary control of the government and public administration. One form of the control function are special question- and-answer sessions in which representatives of the people can question responsible ministers about their government work. A distinction is made between two types of inquiries. The small question is short and should be answered within a week. They are answered during weekly Q&A, usually leading to a shorter discussion between the applicant and the government representative. Around 20 to 40 questions are answered during a question time. Each Storting member can only ask two questions per question time. Since the introduction of Question Time, parliamentarians have used it more and more frequently to raise issues from their own constituencies and to strengthen their own profile. The big question or interpellation touches on an issue of greater political weight and must be submitted to the President of Parliament. It requires a detailed justification and should be answered no later than one month after submitting the application. If a member of the government declares that an interpellation will not be answered, this will terminate the procedure. Responses to large inquiries usually result in a broad debate in which several members of the government and the Storting participate. Around 30 to 35 interpellations are held annually.

The Storting appoints five national auditors to control state funds. The Riksrevisjonen body , which is equivalent to the Court of Auditors and whose top management is made up of five auditors, is the most important control body of the storting. It has all the powers to review the state administration and the state's assets and check whether the will of the storting is implemented. The audit office is independent of the government and all other administrative bodies. It consists of six departments and an administrative office, with around 500 employees working at 17 locations across the country.

In Norway, a parliamentary ombudsman was introduced in 1962 based on the Swedish model . He is elected by the Storting for one legislative term and exercises control over how laws and other regulations are followed. The ombudsman must be a lawyer and may not belong to the Storting as a member of parliament. If officials or judges are accused of acting irresponsibly, the ombudsman examines the case and reports on it. As a rule, the recommendation of the ombudsman is followed. Once a year, the ombudsman gives an account of his activities before the storting.

One of the thirteen standing committees of the Storting is the committee of inquiry. He deals with government reports on the employment of senior officials, other committees, agencies, councils, and the auditors' annual reports. In addition, he deals with constitutional matters, the rules of procedure of the Storting, grants for Storting and the auditor's office, the right to vote and matters relating to the ombudsman. The committee of inquiry is also empowered to investigate the public administration whenever it deems it appropriate. However, this is only possible after a specific minister has been informed.

Traditionally, parliament has the least influence on foreign policy. The control options in this area are therefore limited to preliminary examinations, follow-up controls and the right to confirm contracts.

Norwegian Church Parliament

While the Norwegian Church was organized as a state church, the Storting functioned as the highest decision-making body of the Lutheran Church. Since 2012 it has only been responsible for legislation within the framework of state church law.

Nobel Prize

A function of the Storting, which is unique in international comparison , is the authority conferred by Alfred Nobel's will to elect the members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee . This committee annually determines the winner (s) of the Nobel Peace Prize . Nevertheless, the Nobel Committee is not a committee of the Storting, but a body established under private law.

Organization of MPs

Bureau

Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen , president of the store since March 2018.

The Storting Presidium has consisted of the President and five deputies since 2009. It plans and leads the meetings. It monitors compliance with the constitutional rules, for example with regard to work in the committees and the interaction between parliament and government. In political disputes, the Presidium tries to take a neutral position and, if necessary, consults with the chairmen of the political parties.

In terms of protocol, the office of President of Storting is the second highest after the King. The President is responsible for the proper functioning of Parliament in accordance with the Constitution and the Storting Rules of Procedure. He does not participate in any of the standing committees, but otherwise has the same rights as any parliamentarian and can also take a position in political disputes. He performs part of his duties outside parliament, as he represents Norwegian democracy on numerous occasions within the country. He is also actively involved in international cooperation, for example in the context of foreign visits by Norwegian delegations or as a host for official state guests from abroad. If, after an election, the parliamentary groups fail to nominate a prime minister, the president of the Storting acts as an advisor to the king and can submit his own personnel proposal.

The presidium is elected for four years at the beginning of the legislative period. In office since 2020:

• President: Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen (H)
• 1st Vice President: Eva Kristin Hansen (Ap)
• 2nd Vice President: Morten Wold (Frp)
• 3rd Vice President: Magne Rommetveit (Ap)
• 4th Vice-President: Nils T. Bjørke (Sp)
• 5th Vice President: Ingjerd Schou (H)

As long as the parliament was divided into two chambers, Lagting and Odelsting (until 2009), the presidium consisted of the president and vice-president of the entire parliament as well as the respective presidents of the chambers and their deputies. Between 1945 and 1961, the Labor Party, which had an absolute majority, held four of the six posts. Since 1961, three posts have been given to government and the other parties, with the presidential post always going to a ruling party.

Factions

The 169 members of the Storting are divided between seven different parliamentary groups . Each parliamentary group elects a group chairman, a deputy and a group chairman. The board is in close contact with party officials and members who do not belong to parliament. Members of the parliamentary group executive are automatically members of the parliamentary committee for foreign affairs and constitutional law. Within the parliamentary group, decisions are made on parliamentary initiatives and the division of work between the members of the parliament. The factions are presented in public as allied or competing elements, whereby the difference between the government and opposition factions becomes quite clear. In times of minority government, the separation is more volatile, depending on the situation, as the government is always looking for a majority.

In keeping with Norwegian tradition, the members of parliament do not sit in the plenary chamber according to party affiliation, but rather according to their origin (i.e. according to constituencies). On the one hand this is an expression of Norway's consensual policy, on the other hand it emphasizes the important position of the regions in unitarian Norway.

Committees

There are 13 specialist committees, the responsibilities of which largely coincide with the ministerial departments. In addition, there is also an election review and election committee. After the newly elected Storting has met, the election committee will be formed from 37 MPs from all parliamentary groups and provinces; he distributes all committee seats among the 169 MPs. Every MP is represented on at least one committee.

As soon as the committees are constituted, they elect a chairman, a deputy and a secretary. Each committee has between eleven and 20 people. The parliamentary groups also form groups in the committees, each of which appoints a speaker. The committees have the task of preparing the material for debates and decisions in plenary. For each item that is submitted to a committee, a responsible spokesperson is appointed who will present the item to the committee, gather information and oversee the matter until it is referred to the plenary for a vote. If the committee fails to form a consensus, the dissenting views of the minority will be included in the proposal. Resolutions of the committees are usually passed in plenary because the members of parliament follow the decisions of their party friends in the committee.

The meetings take place in camera. However, hearings are public. The committees have the right to summon representatives of the government and organizations as well as private individuals in order to obtain full information.

Members

→ Main article : List of members of the Storting (2017-2021)

In the current legislative period, which lasts from autumn 2017 to autumn 2021, the parliament has 169 members. The largest political groups are the social democratic party Arbeiderpartiet and the conservative party Høyre . The green party Miljøpartiet De Grønne (MDG) and the Marxist party Rødt are each represented with one mandate .

Work of the deputies

Working method

When parliamentarism emerged, the Storting was the forum for the peasants who were entitled to vote and the urban bourgeoisie, so the idea of ​​lay rule was of great importance. As a result, the professionalization and development of professional politicians had only progressed slowly despite the increasing workload. In 2002 a parliamentarian earned 520,000 NKr (approx. € 70,000), which is significantly less than parliamentarians from other Western European countries received, although the diets had doubled in the course of the 1990s. The expansion of the administration was also a hesitant process: it was not until 1981 that the number of employees exceeded the number of representatives. An improvement in working conditions became apparent from the 1970s. Each MP has his own office in Oslo, postage and telephone costs are borne by Parliament, use of public transport is free, and business travel costs are reimbursed. Telephone costs in the constituency are also covered up to a certain limit, as are language courses in German, English, French and Spanish. Despite the clear tendency towards professionalization, some parliamentarians in Norway still cannot make friends with a parliamentary staff as competition for the public administration.

The increasing burden was also the reason to include in the constitution that parliament has to meet annually. The session year begins in October, while there are usually no sessions in summer. However, the government can organize special sessions. In order to increase efficiency, legislative proposals are only submitted to the Storting in writing and no longer verbally, speaking time has been limited and voting is carried out electronically. To ensure a quorum, at least half of the MPs must be present.

The MPs are not entitled to their own employees. They receive personal support in the parliamentary groups. Each political group has a secretariat that assists MEPs in carrying out their work. The size of the secretariat depends on the size of the group. MEPs can also use a library and use staff to gather information on various areas. The employees are divided equally between academic staff and office staff.

No member of Storting is bound by an imperative mandate , but party discipline is strong in Nordic parliaments. The MPs no longer see themselves only as representatives of their constituencies, but as representatives of the entire nation. There is no statutory regulation for the way the parliamentary groups work, but they generally follow the general political guidelines that are laid down by the quorum of their party's organs.

All MPs have immunity protection , which ensures that they can carry out their mandate unhindered. No outside authority can deprive a member of his or her mandate. Storting itself has no instruments whatsoever to expel a member of parliament. Representatives of the people have no way of voluntarily giving up their mandate unless they become ministers. Government officials have the right to be present and speak, but not to vote. In the plenary hall they have separate seats that are away from the seats of the representatives.

Social representation

Social representation within parliament continues to show deficits. Since 1945 more than half of the MPs have come from working-class, farming and fishing families, but the proportions of these social groups have declined sharply until today. Older people, men and people with higher education (especially teachers) are now more represented among MPs than in the general population. The electoral system ensures balanced representation only from a party-political and geographical point of view. Overall, however, social inequality has decreased. Mainly due to the women's movement and its efforts to get more women into parliament, the proportion of women has increased steadily from election to election.

history

Origin of the "Ting"

Even before historical events were recorded, gatherings of tribal representatives called Lagting were held in Norway . The task of the Lagting was to settle disputes, convict lawbreakers and elect the king. All free men were allowed to participate, but wealthy peasants and the chiefs dominated the ting. With the beginning of the Middle Ages, a new understanding of law set in, according to which law is not eternally valid, but can be changed. The extension of royal powers through legally valid edicts took place in constant conflict with the chiefs. In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Ting lost further influence as Norway developed into a hereditary monarchy. The imperial assembly, an organ of clerical and secular nobility, led the government together with the king. Due to the Danish-Norwegian personal union, the political decision-making center shifted to Copenhagen .

Basic law and union with Sweden

National Assembly in Eidsvoll 1814

During the Napoleonic Wars Denmark-Norway and Sweden were enemies. After Napoleon's defeat in the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, Sweden and England forced the Danish King Frederick VI. for the surrender of Norway to Sweden. Friedrich agreed and signed the Peace of Kiel , but the Danish governor and Crown Prince Christian Frederik opposed the decision and tried to establish an independent Norway under his reign. Numerous Norwegians also interpreted the departure from the Danish-Norwegian Union as a release to independence. In Eidsvoll , under Christian Frederik's leadership, an imperial assembly consisting of 112 members met. The delegates called for a liberal constitution and a new king to be elected by the people. On May 17, 1814, the Norwegian Basic Law was passed, which bore clear traits of current ideas at the time. Decisive principles were popular sovereignty, the separation of powers and the theory of the rights of the individual vis-à-vis the state. The legislature was the Storting and should be elected by the people; the king received a suspensive right of veto, which could be equalized by parliament; the right to vote was initially limited to civil servants, urban commercial entrepreneurs and farmers. After a brief war in 1814, Norway was forced into the union with Sweden, which provided for the peace in Kiel. The two kingdoms were united under the Swedish king. The Norwegian constitution remained in place in a restricted form.

From parliamentarism to German occupation

Johan Sverdrup is considered the father of parliamentarism in Norway. From 1884 to 1889 he was Prime Minister of Norway.

In the second half of the 19th century, the issue of fair representation became an increasingly important issue. Through the industrialization of a large proletariat, which had no political representation arose. The right to vote continued to favor landowners and people with high incomes. With the push for fairer representation came a movement that wanted to achieve liberation from Swedish influence. The emergence of both can be traced back to two aspects: General schooling gave the Norwegians a political awareness and, with the introduction of local self-government in 1837, Formannskaps districts emerged . The local administrations took over the royal government's work, but also weakened its influence and were determined by elections. Both parties to the conflict referred to the Basic Law: the conservatives insisted on the separation of powers, the dualism between king and popular representation, the liberals and social democrats referred to popular sovereignty and the unity of government and parliament.

In the 1860s, the opposition forces around Johan Sverdrup gained a majority in parliament. Together with Søren Jaabæk , the leader of the agricultural opposition, he managed to have the Storting meet every year from now on. Previously, the delegates only met every third year. The resolution increased the political influence of the Storting and the royal government was weakened, as its members had little opportunity to influence the work of parliament. The king also no longer had the free choice of his government members.

In 1884 the Swedish king gave up and parliamentarianism prevailed in Norway. Thus a government no longer had to have the support of the king, but of the storting. In the same year the first parties were formed in circles of the conservatives and the liberals. The Labor Party was only founded in 1887 and only entered parliament in 1903. In 1905 Norway finally gained independence from Sweden through a referendum .

In the first years of independence, the Liberals consistently had the majority in the Storting. The importance of the Labor Party increased from election to election. Since the Storting election in 1912, in which it received 26% of the vote, it has been the second largest party in the National Assembly. Universal suffrage for men and women was introduced between 1898 and 1913. With the end of the First World War , the dominance of the Liberals also came to an end; Until the beginning of the Second World War, no party was able to achieve a majority in Storting. In 1928, under Christopher Hornsrud, the first social democratic government came to Norway, but it only lasted 19 days. In the run-up to the Second World War , defense issues became the focus of political debates. The socialists resisted an increase in the defense budget and were partially supported by the liberals. Nevertheless, the permit was granted in 1936 under a social democratic government with the support of the Peasant Party. At the beginning of the war, Norway declared itself neutral again, but was occupied by the German Reich .

After the Second World War

In the first election after World War II, the Labor Party won the most votes. This began their dominance in Storting, which lasted until the 1969 election. The Social Democrats achieved their best result in 1957 when they received 48.5% of the vote. During this time the election results of all parties were relatively stable; the only significant change was that the communist party, the NKP , left parliament. The end of social democratic dominance came with the 1973 Storting election, in which the party lost more than ten percent. The reason for the poor performance of the Labor Party was its support for joining the EC , which the majority of the population rejected. This was shown by a referendum from the previous year, in which only 46.5% were in favor of joining.

Although the Social Democrats remained the strongest party, they could no longer build on the dominance of previous years. The conservative parties in particular benefited from the end of dominance. From the 1980s onwards, there was a wave of rights ( høyrebølgen ). In 1981 Høyre achieved its best result at national level with 31.7%. This was mainly at the expense of the center parties, i.e. the Center Party and the Christian People's Party.

At the turn of the millennium, another turning point was observed in voting behavior. The Social Democrats continued to lose votes and achieved their worst result in a Storting election in 2001 with 24.4%. There were gains among the Socialist Left, which benefited above all from the poor performance of the Social Democrats, and the right-wing populist Progress Party, which meant a temporary “ radicalization ” in voting behavior.

Red-red-green majority from 2005 to 2013

The election on September 12, 2005 resulted in a majority for the electoral alliance of Social Democrats , Left and Green Center Party . The social democrat Jens Stoltenberg was entrusted with forming a government after serving as prime minister from 2000 to 2001. Another winner in the election was Carl Ivar Hagens right-wing populist Progress Party . It received around 22% of the vote, making it the strongest opposition party. For the previous Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik ( KrF ) and his center-right government, however, there was an election defeat; his party lost half of its seats. The central issue of the election campaign was the distribution of the rich oil revenues. A large part of the income flows into an oil fund, which operates for future generations and is supposed to secure social benefits. Stoltenberg's Workers' Party as well as Hagen's Progressive Party scored points with the promise to use the income from oil production more for education, health and care. Bondevik's reference to good economic data could not bring the election victory. The improvement in social benefits was eventually financed through tax increases. In 2009 the Jens Stoltenberg II government was confirmed.

Change of power in 2013

With the 2013 election , the right and center-right parties won a clear parliamentary majority. The Conservative-led Solberg coalition government was appointed on October 16, 2013. Initially, until the 2017 election, it was a minority government made up of Høyre and Fremskrittspartiet (FrP), which was dependent on the support of Kristelig Folkeparti (KrF) or Venstre . After the parliamentary elections in September 2017, the Venstre party joined the government, but it was again a minority government that was dependent on the KrF. In November 2018, there was an internal vote in the KrF to decide whether the party should also join the government or seek cooperation with the left parties. The advocates of joining the government were able to prevail and from January 2019 Prime Minister Erna Solberg headed a majority government for the first time. In January 2020, however, the FrP left the coalition after a dispute over the entry of a woman close to the so-called Islamic State.

literature

• Hermann Groß, Walter Rothholz: The political system of Norway . In: Wolfgang Ismayr (Ed.): The political systems of Western Europe. With the collaboration of Jörg Bohnefeld and Stephan Fischer. 4th updated and revised edition. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 2008, ISBN 978-3-531-16464-9 , pp. 151-193.
• Olof Petersson: The political systems of Northern Europe. An introduction. [Translated from Swedish and updated by Ulrike Strerath-Bolz]. Nomos, Baden-Baden 1989, ISBN 3-7890-1864-3 ( Northern European Studies 5).
• Hilmar Rommetvedt: The Rise of the Norwegian Parliament. Frank Cass, London 2003, ISBN 0-7146-5286-5 .

Web links

• stortinget.no
• The National Assembly of Norway Official Storting brochure in German, 36 pages (PDF)
• Henrich Steffens : The Norwegian Storthing in 1824. Historical presentation and pieces of files . Berlin 1825

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Endrer valgdistriktene. In: valg.no. Retrieved May 19, 2020 (Norwegian Bokmål). 
2. ^ Petersson, 1989, 74
3. ^ Change of government in Norway Country report of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung, September 2013, p. 2.
4. ↑ Petersson, 1989, 40; Groß / Rothholz, 2003, 148
5. ↑ Harald Stolt-Nielsen Hanne Mellingsæter: Oslo-velgere strøk listetoppene and candidates with utenlandske navn. Retrieved March 29, 2019 (nb-NO). 
6. ↑ Per Øyvind Catch : Leirstein melder seg ut av Frp. In: NRK. April 26, 2019, accessed on May 19, 2020 (Norwegian Bokmål). 
7. ↑ ^{a b} Legislation stortinget.no (English)
8. ^ Store Norske Leksikon : Odelstinget
9. ↑ Petersson, 1989, 76 f.
10. ↑ Petersson, 1989, 78 f .; Groß / Rothholz, 2003, 134 f.
11. ↑ Petersson, 1989, 81 f.
12. ↑ Budget stortinget.no (English)
13. ↑ ^{a b c d} Supervisory Role stortinget.no (English)
14. ↑ ^{a b} Groß / Rothholz, 2003, 138
15. ↑ Petersson, 1989, 82 f.
16. ^ Petersson, 1989, 83
17. ↑ The Presidium stortinget.no (English)
18. ↑ The President of the Storting stortinget.no (English)
19. ↑ [1] Parliament's website, accessed February 7, 2020.
20. ↑ Groß / Rothholz, 2003, 134
21. ↑ Groß / Rothholz, 2003, 137
22. ↑ ^{a b} Groß / Rothholz, 2003, 135
23. ↑ committees ( komiteer ). Stortinget.no; Retrieved February 10, 2012
24. ↑ ^{a b c} Groß / Ruthholz, 2003, 135 f.
25. ^ ^{A b} Petersson, 1989, 74
26. ^ ^{A b} Petersson, 1989, 75
27. ^ ^{A b} Petersson, 1989, 72
28. ^ Petersson, 1989, 73
29. ^ Petersson, 1989, 9
30. ↑ Petersson, 1989, 10
31. ↑ Petersson, Jan.
32. ↑ Ivar book Østbø: Storting og regjering . 2nd edition Oslo 2010; Pp. 80-83
33. ↑ Petersson, 1989, 16
34. ^ ^{A b} Petersson, 1989, 17
35. ↑ Stortinget.no: History ( Memento from June 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
36. ↑ Petersson, 1989, 18 f.
37. ↑ Ivar book Østbø: Storting og regjering . P. 92
38. ↑ Petersson, 1989, 18
39. ↑ ^{a b} Tor Dagre: Norway after 1905 . ( Copy of text from medienwerkstatt-online.de)
40. ↑ Groß / Rothholz, 2003, 149; Petersson, 1989, 30
41. ↑ Groß / Rothholz, 2003, 149
42. ↑ Red-Red-Green wins . Spiegel Online , September 13, 2005, accessed January 12, 2008
43. ^ Anna Reimann: Protest among rich people . Spiegel Online , September 13, 2005, accessed January 12, 2008
44. ^ Jon Even Andersen: Fire måtte ut, fem fikk nytt department. In: Dagsavisen. January 17, 2018, accessed February 10, 2020 (Norwegian). 
45. ↑ tagesschau.de: Norway gets its first majority government in a long time. Retrieved February 10, 2020 . 
46. ↑ David Vojislav Krekling: Her er Solberg-regjeringen 4.0. January 24, 2020, accessed on February 10, 2020 (Norwegian Bokmål).