Storting election: number of females elected highest ever
The electoral turnout at this year’s Storting election was 76.4 per cent, which corresponds to a total of 2 696 000 valid votes. Compared to the election four years ago, this was a decrease of one percentage point. The total number of votes cast in advance increased and the number of females elected is the highest ever, reports Statistics Norway
Only three Storting elections since World War II have recorded a lower or equally low voter turnout as this year’s election. The elections in 2001 (lowest turnout since 1927), 1993 and 1945 – where the turnout corresponds to this year’s election, have the lowest turnout since World War II. Among the valid votes, 24.4 per cent were cast in advance. This number has increased by 6.5 percentage points since the election in 2005. The highest number of votes cast in advance of the total number of valid votes was in Utsira municipality in Rogaland, where 44.3 per cent were cast in advance.
Geographically varied voter turnout
Compared to the election in 2005, all counties besides Finnmark experienced a decrease in voter turnout. The turnout in Finnmark increased by 0.6 percentage points. As in earlier elections, the highest turnout was recorded in Akershus County and the lowest in Finnmark County. This year the figures were 80.4 and 71 per cent respectively. The largest decrease was recorded in Nord-Trøndelag with 2.2 percentage points, and Oppland and Hedmark with 2.1 percentage points.
Utsira municipality in Rogaland with 161 persons entitled to vote recorded the highest voter turnout with 92.5 per cent, followed by Kvitsøy in Rogaland and Oppegård in Akershus with 84.9 per cent. Twenty-one of the 25 municipalities that recorded the highest voter turnout in this Storting election, were also among the 25 municipalities with the highest voter turnout in the previous Storting election. A total of 44 municipalities recorded a voter turnout that exceeded 80 per cent – while the figure was 61 in 2005. The lowest voter turnout was recorded in Moskenes municipality in Nordland and in Guovdageaidnu Kautokeino municipality in Finnmark with 63.5 per cent, followed by Herøy in Nordland with 65.7 per cent voter turnout. In total, 27 municipalities recorded a voter turnout below 70 per cent, and among these 17 belong to the three northernmost counties.
Number of votes cast in advance and votes cast on election day differ mostly with H, Sp and SV
In total, 657 000 voters cast their votes in advance. As for the election result in total, the Labour Party received the largest amount of votes cast in advance; 34.6 per cent or 225 000 of the votes cast in advance. The Labour Party, the Centre Party and the Conservative Party all received a smaller amount of the votes cast in advance than votes cast on election day – while SV, Party Red, Christian Democratic Party, Liberal Party and the Progress Party received a larger amount of the votes cast in advance than votes cast on election day. The number of votes cast in advance and votes cast on election day differs mostly for the Conservative Party. Here the difference is 2 percentage points, while the difference is 1.9 percentage points for the Centre Party and 1.6 percentage points for SV. If only the votes cast in advance are taken into consideration, the Liberal Party exceeds the minimum percentage of votes required for representation.
Female representation the highest ever
A total of 67 females were elected to the Stortinget in this election. Forty per cent of the representatives are female. This is the highest portion of female representation ever seen. The Liberal Party has the highest portion with both of their representatives being female, followed by the Centre Party where 7 out of 11 of the representatives are female. Even though the portion of female representatives increased since last election, the Progress Party still has the lowest portion of female representatives with 24 per cent.
