Norway went to the polls yesterday and the message was clear: despite these being local elections, Norwegians delivered a damning verdict on the governing centre-right coalition parties, as all left-leaning parties gained support.
It鈥檚 not just about the percentages for聽the Conservatives,聽the senior partner in the coalition. Their poor performance saw them potentially lose their grip on Norway鈥檚 two biggest cities, Oslo and Bergen. I say potentially because there are a lot of parties in Norway and therefore one party almost never gains more than 50% of the vote in any election. Rather than the vote of any single party, the total 鈥渂loc鈥� votes (left / centre / right) are often what matters.
While clearly a good night for the Labour party, who will hope to build on this renewed support to return to power in 2017, the big winners of the night were the Green Party. Their vote share increased from less than 1% to over 4%, on a night that sees them hold the balance of power in Oslo. The Greens have surprised some by saying they are willing to talk with all sides of the political spectrum, so the Conservatives could sneak back into power in Oslo.
First-time voter
Personally, this vote wasn鈥檛 so much about the results as it was actually being able to vote in Norway for the first time. Surely a watershed moment for any expat? While foreign residents cannot vote in national elections without becoming Norwegian citizens, we can vote in local and county elections after three-years of residency. As I鈥檝e been here for over four years now, I received my voting card (valgkort) in the post several weeks ago.
I chose to vote in advance last week at Trondheim central library. And I wasn鈥檛 alone. I frequently walk through the library on my way to my office and every time there was a queue at the voting booths. Across the country,聽hundreds of thousands of聽people voted in advance.
Voting in a different country was a strange feeling. The voting system was completely different, a party-list system that also allowed you to compose your own lists. This meant that upon entering the voting booth, I was presented with countless voting slips. It鈥檚 a good job I鈥檇 read up on how to vote in advance, because otherwise I鈥檇 have been completely stumped.
The preliminary results
The large numbers of advance voters meant that when the polls closed at 9pm, early results gave a clear indication of what was to come.
Remember these are local and county elections and don鈥檛 affect the make-up of the Norwegian government, but they are important indicators all the same.
Some of the highlights from the preliminary results include:
- The governing coalition partners the Conservatives (-4.7%) and the Progress Party (-1.7%) lost support.
- The Conservatives lost control of Norway鈥檚 two biggest cities, Oslo and Bergen.
- The Labour Party, Norway鈥檚 main opposition, increased their share of the vote to 33%, their聽highest level in 28 years.
- Turnout was surprisingly low. At under 60%, it鈥檚 Norway鈥檚 second lowest turnout ever.
- The far-left Red party enjoyed an astonishing result in 罢谤辞尘蝉酶.
My take is I鈥檓 not at all surprised by these results.
A drop in support for coalition parties is always expected at mid-term elections. What鈥檚 interesting for me is the bump in support not for the Labour party, but for the other left-leaning parties and the Green Party. What drove these bumps is impossible to say: the oil 鈥渃risis鈥�, a verdict on the coalition, the refugee crisis, or, given these were local elections, perhaps local issues played their part too!
Because of Norway鈥檚 political system, the aftermath will be more interesting than the results themselves.
Who will do deals with who? Will any party leaders step down? Can the left-leaning parties build on this support, and how will the centre-right coalition adjust their strategy leading into 2017?
Watch this space.
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