Chamber:
	Stortinget
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	12 September 1993 13 September 1993
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all the seats in Parliament on the normal expiry of the members’ term of office.
Background and outcome of elections:
	Following the previous (September 1989) general elections, a minority conservative-liberal coalition took the reins of the government only to yield to the opposition Labour Party a year later, when Mrs. Gro Harlem Brundtland once again became Prime Minister at the head of another minority Government. The 1993 elections took place against a background of political turbulence. The period was characterised by economic recession and rising unemployment, with Labour advocating higher taxes to fund public-sector jobs in order to increase the work force. Most of the campaign debate, however, focused on the question on Norway’s membership of the European Community (European Union), an issue which divided the major contending parties – Labour, the Centre Party and the Conservatives. In an effort to decouple this overriding question from the polling, the Prime Minister, while favouring the EC, promised that Norway would hold a referendum to resolve the matter. Generally speaking, the campaign itself was regarded as unstructured, with each party trying to outdo the other rather than carrying on a dialogue. On polling day, the agrarian Centre Party, led by Mrs. Anne Enger Lahnstein and an opponent of EC membership, made a surprisingly strong showing at the expense of the pro-EC Conservatives to supplant it as the second party in the Storting. For its part, Labour – which had contended that there was no other viable alternative government – consolidated its leading position despite low pre-election popularity polls, its cause believed to have been helped by the role the Government had played in promoting secret talks between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). The overall voter turnout was 75.8% – the lowest since 1927. Given the polling results, Mrs. Brundtland continued as Prime Minister, heading a 19-member reshuffled Labour Cabinet which was announced on 7 October.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (12 and 13 September 1993): Elections results
Number of registered electors	3,259,957
Voters	2,472,551 (75.8%)
Blank or invalid ballot papers	10,602
Valid votes	2,461,949

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	Votes	%
Labour Party	908,724	36.9
Centre Party	412,187	16.8
Conservative Party	419,373	17.0
Socialist Left Party	194,633	7.9
Christian Democratic Party	193,885	7.9
Progress Party	154,497	6.3
Liberal Party	88,985	3.6
Red Electoral Alliance	26,360	1.1
Others	63,305	2.5

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total	Gain/Loss
Labour Party	67	+4
Centre Party	32	+21
Conservative Party	28	-9
Socialist Left Party	13	-4
Christian Democratic Party	13	-1
Progress Party	10	-12
Liberal Party	1	+1
Red Electoral Alliance	1	+1
Others	0	-1

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	100
Women:	65