| Parliament name (generic / translated) |
Stortinget / Parliament |
| Structure of parliament |
Unicameral |
| BACKGROUND |
| Dates of election / renewal (from/to) |
12 September 2005 |
| Purpose of elections |
Elections were held for all the seats in Parliament on the normal expiry of the members' term of office. |
Norwegians went to the polls on 12 September 2005 to elect an enlarged parliament of 169 members, up from 165. Since the 2001 elections, when the Labour Party had suffered its worst result in 90 years, the country had been led by a center-right minority coalition under Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, which controlled 62 of 165 seats in parliament (Stortinget). The coalition was composed of three parties: the Prime Minister's Christian People's Party, the Conservatives and the Liberal Party. The coalition also had support from the far right Progress Party, known for its anti-immigration policy, which had won 26 seats in the 2001 elections, bringing the number of seats controlled by government to 88. The three main opposition parties formed the Red-Green alliance composed of former Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg's Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party (Agrarians), holding 76 seats in all. One MP represented the Coastal Party, defending the interests of fishing communities and opposing membership of the European Union.
The electoral campaign focused on how to spend Norway's North Sea oil revenues, which amount to some $38 billion per year. The outgoing government had implemented major economic reforms over the past four years, including tax cuts for business. It argued that continuation of its policy would secure further economic growth, and thus generate more money to spend on welfare. The prime minister also proposed tax cuts of $3.66 billion over four years and welfare reform. The Labour leader, Mr. Stoltenberg, insisted that the country should spend more oil revenue on jobs, care for the elderly, and education, and criticized the government's tax cuts as favoring the rich. Pre-election polls showed a deadlock, with no clear majority for either side. 77.4 per cent of Norway's 3.4 million eligible voters cast their ballots on election day.
Final results gave an absolute majority of 87 seats to the Red-Green alliance, while the outgoing government and its ally, the Progress Party, won a total of 82 seats. Within the winning coalition, the Labour Party increased its seats to 61, up from 43 in the 2001 elections. The Centre Party (Agrarians) obtained 11 seats, one more than the previous election, while the Socialist Left Party was reduced to 15 seats, having lost eight.
The Conservative Party, the biggest party in the outgoing government, suffered its worst results in its history, retaining 23 seats and losing 15. The Christian People's Party won 11 seats, down from 22. On the other hand, the Liberal Party won its largest number of seats ever: ten, up from two. The far-right Progress Party, led by Mr. Carl Hagen, increased its seats from 26 to 38, becoming the second largest party in the new parliament. The Coastal Party lost its only seat.
Parliament was convened on 1 October 2005 and on 10 October 2005 elected former prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland as the new speaker.
On 14 October, the King accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and on 17 October 2005 appointed Mr. Jens Stoltenberg as the new premier. Mr. Stoltenberg's second government, composed of the Red-Green alliance, became the first majority government in Norway since the mid 1980s. |
| STATISTICS |
| Voter turnout |
| Round no 1 | 12 September 2005 |
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes |
3'421'741
2'649'735 (77.44%)
11'547
2'638'188 |
|
Notes
|
|
| Distribution of votes |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Candidates |
Votes |
|
|
% |
|
|
| Labour Party |
|
|
|
|
32.70 |
|
|
| Progress Party |
|
|
|
|
22.00 |
|
|
| Conservative Party |
|
|
|
|
14.10 |
|
|
| Socialist Left Party |
|
|
|
|
8.80 |
|
|
| Centre Party |
|
|
|
|
6.50 |
|
|
| Christian People's Party |
|
|
|
|
6.80 |
|
|
| Liberal Party |
|
|
|
|
5.90 |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Total
|
Gain/Loss |
|
|
|
| Labour Party |
61
|
19 |
|
|
|
| Progress Party |
38
|
12 |
|
|
|
| Conservative Party |
23
|
-15 |
|
|
|
| Socialist Left Party |
15
|
-8 |
|
|
|
| Centre Party |
11
|
1 |
|
|
|
| Christian People's Party |
11
|
-11 |
|
|
|
| Liberal Party |
10
|
8 |
|
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to sex |
Men
Women
Percent of women |
105
64
37.87%
|
| Distribution of seats according to age |
21 to 30 years
31 to 40 years
41 to 50 years
51 to 60 years
61 to 70 years
|
20
37
41
61
10
|
| Distribution of seats according to profession |
| Administration, banking, insurance |
33 |
| Schools, teaching, churches, culture |
33 |
| Party/organization employees |
22 |
| Students/unknown |
19 |
| Communications/IT |
17 |
| Industry/craft/construction trade |
14 |
| Civil service |
13 |
| Self-employed |
13 |
| Commodity trade, tourism, hotels |
10 |
| Health and social care |
9 |
| Primary industries (agriculture, forestry, etc.) |
8 |
|
| Comments |
Sources:
- IPU Group (24.10.2005; 28.01.2008)
- http://odin.dep.no/krd/html/valgresultat2005/frameset.html
Note on "Distribution of seats according to profession"
Statistics include 167 of the 169 representatives as well as 11 members who replaced members who joined the Cabinet on 19 October 2005.
|
|
A historical Archive of past election results for this chamber can be found on a separate page