Election results for municipal and county council election

Electoral roll: An overview of the number of persons entitled to vote. Persons entitled to vote will be registered in the electoral roll in their municipality of residence on 30 June in the election year. Persons entitled to vote: The requirements relating to voting rights are outlined in the Constitution and in the Election Act. Norwegian nationals who have attained the age of 18 at the latest during the year in which the election is held and who have been registered as residents in Norway during the last ten years, will automatically be included in the electoral roll. In addition, Norwegian nationals who have been residents abroad for more than ten consecutive years are entitled to be registered in the electoral roll. In local elections, foreign nationals who have resided in Norway for at least three years on the election day and otherwise meet the general requirements are entitled to vote. A change in the Election Act gave all Nordic nationals the right to vote in local elections if they immigrated to Norway before 30 June in the election year. This change became valid as of the 2007 election. Cast votes, total (information from electoral roll): Approved votes must correspond with the number of checked names in the electoral roll. In practice, this figure is calculated as the number of approved votes, rejected votes and envelopes without ballot papers. From the election in 2003, envelopes were not used at election day. Before the election in 2003, envelopes without ballot papers for municipal council and county council election: Because there were two elections at the same time and the ballot papers for both elections was to be placed in the same envelope, some envelopes would contain a ballot paper for one election only. This figure was appear as the difference between total cast votes and cast votes for the municipal council election/county council election, but was not used otherwise in the statistics. Cast votes for municipal council/county council elections: Approved ballot papers plus rejected ballot papers plus empty envelopes. Can also be defined as total cast votes (electoral roll information) less empty envelopes for municipal council/county council election. Rejected votes: Ballot papers which for various reasons are rejected, and blank ballot papers. Approved votes: The number of approved ballot papers following a detailed count/recount. Electoral turnout: In local elections, a distinction is made between total electoral turnout, i.e. persons who come to vote (number of crosses in electoral roll). These persons may have voted in one or both elections. Furthermore, electoral turnout in municipal council/county council elections builds on the number of cast votes in these elections. Corrected ballot papers: Some tables contain information about the number of or percentage of approved ballot papers that were corrected. An approved ballot paper is considered corrected if the voter has made at least one change from the official list. Re-elected representatives: A municipal council/county council representative is considered re-elected if he or she was a permanent member of the municipal council/county council in office on election day. Representatives who became permanent members of the municipal council/county council during the election period are therefore not defined as re-elected representatives.

Classification of municipality Classification of urban district

Name: Election results for municipal and county council election
Topic: Elections

Division for Population Statistics

Municipal level. For some large municipalities figures are produced by constituency/city district.

Ever four years (election year)

Not relevant

The statistics files are stored long term in SSB and by Norwegian social science data services for election research.

The purpose of the statistics is to produce statistical information about the municipal council and county council election. Statistics on municipal council elections are available back to 1901, but the statistics for 1904 are incomplete. Statistics Norway has been responsible the statistics throughout this period. The statistics are published in NOS Municipal elections, from 1975 to 1999 in NOS Municipal council elections. For the period 1934-1963, the publication contains the results of chairman elections. The number of votes for the various political parties in municipal council elections is available in Historical statistics back to 1928. Figures for persons with voting rights and electoral turnout are available back to 1901. The first county council election was held in 1975.

The political parties and journalists are frequent users of the statistics. The statistics are also used by ministries in the calculation of financial support to the parties, municipalities and county municipalities. Students and election researchers are also frequent users.

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§ 2-2 of the Statistics Act and § 15-7 of the Election Act.

Not relevant

The statistics include the results of the municipal council and county council election in all municipalities. Figures on persons entitled to vote, electoral turnout, rejected votes and approved distributed by political party, are collected. For the municipal council election, information on the number of candidates, xxx, representatives, deputy representatives and re-elected representatives is also collected. For the county municipal election, information on the age and occupation of elected representative is also collected.

Form

Full count

Two forms are sent to the municipalities. In one form we ask for information about persons with voting rights and cast. The other form is for information about statistics like approved, rejected and blank votes. The other form is for information on the election officials.

In addition to computerised controls, manual revisions are carried out.

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Statistics for the various political parties are available back to 1928 for the municipal council election at national level. During the Second World War (1940-1945) no elections were held. At municipal level, the statistics are somewhat incomplete for elections prior to 1937. The first county council election was held in 1975.

There is uncertainty around the number of cast votes and rejected votes in some municipalities. This is due to inaccuracies in the keeping of the election book and checking errors in the electoral roll. Misunderstandings regarding rejected voting/rejected votes occur. Rejected voting means that a person comes to vote at the polling station, but his or her voting is not approved. In these cases, the electoral roll shall not be checked and the number of such votes shall not normally be included in the statistics. They are registered, but in some cases this is done incorrectly under rejected votes. During revisions, cast votes, rejected votes and the number of envelopes with ballot papers for the other election only must in some cases be adjusted/corrected following an assessment if the municipalities cannot solve the problems.

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