Norway Parliamentary election 2017 — Results

The essentials

Norway held parliamentary (Storting) elections on 11 September 2017. The Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) remained the largest single party with 27.37% of the vote and 49 of the 169 seats, but it was the non-socialist bloc that secured a majority (88 seats), allowing Conservative (Høyre) prime minister Erna Solberg to continue in office. The Conservatives took 25.04% and 45 seats, the right-wing Progress Party 15.19% and 27, and the agrarian Centre Party advanced to 10.32% and 19. Turnout was 78.2%.

Electoral system

The 169-member Storting is elected for a fixed four-year term — Norway holds no snap elections — by party-list proportional representation using the modified Sainte-Laguë method across 19 constituencies. Of the seats, 150 are constituency seats and 19 are nationwide levelling seats (utjevningsmandater) reserved for parties that clear a 4% national threshold, which makes the overall allocation highly proportional.

The blocs and main parties

Norwegian politics divides into a "red-green" left — the Labour Party, the Centre Party and the Socialist Left (SV) — and a non-socialist right built around the Conservatives and the Progress Party. The Liberals (Venstre), the Christian Democrats (KrF), the Greens (MDG) and the socialist Red (Rødt) occupy the flanks and frequently hold the balance. Government formation depends less on which party finishes first than on which bloc can assemble a majority.

The run-up to the vote

The 2017 campaign turned on the future of Norway's oil and gas industry and the pace of any green transition, on taxation and the wealth tax, on immigration in the aftermath of the 2015 refugee crisis, and on the sustainability of the welfare state funded by the country's vast sovereign wealth fund. Solberg's government defended its record of tax cuts and steady management.

Why Solberg stayed despite finishing second

Although Labour was the single largest party, the combined non-socialist parties won more seats, so Erna Solberg retained the premiership — a clear illustration of how Norway's bloc politics works. The result was a relative disappointment for Labour, whose vote slipped, while the Centre Party's rural advance hinted at the realignment to come.

Government formation

Solberg continued at the head of a minority government of the Conservatives and the Progress Party, which was progressively broadened — to include the Liberals in 2018 and the Christian Democrats in 2019 — eventually giving the four-party coalition a parliamentary majority for part of the term.

Turnout

Turnout was 78.2%, high by international standards and typical of Norwegian parliamentary elections, which consistently draw far stronger participation than the country's local contests.

The previous election

In 2013 Erna Solberg had ousted Jens Stoltenberg's Labour-led red-green government after eight years in power; the 2017 result confirmed her centre-right project for a second term, making her one of Norway's longest-serving modern prime ministers.

About the data

Norwegian Election Directorate (Valgdirektoratet) — valgresultat.no.

Compiled and reviewed from official results by ElectioMap. See our data methodology.