Norwegians turned out in near-record numbers to vote in Monday’s Parliamentary election. By the time polls closed at 9pm, fully 78.9 percent of Norway’s eligible voters had cast their ballots, the highest voter turnout in 36 years.
“It’s good news for democracy when we come close to 80 percent,” election researcher Troy Saghaug Broderstad told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Tuesday. Voter turnout hasn’t been so high since the Parliamentary election in 1989.
This year’s election marked the first time that more than 4 million Norwegians could cast their ballots, and record numbers voted early. The total population has grown to around 5.6 million and several thousand residents who’ve become Norwegian citizens since the last election in 2021 are now able to vote in national elections. Before dual citizenship was allowed from 2020, foreign-born residents could only vote in local municipal elections, and only if they had permanent resident permission.
Broderstad, an assistant professor at the University of Tromsø, said he thinks there are several reasons for this year’s high voter turnout. He thinks the international situation may have had an effect on Norwegian voters and prompted them to use their right to vote. “It’s not unthinkable that the situation we see where democracy in many countries is under pressure can mobilize some voters,” Broderstad told NRK.
He also said that research in other countries, and experience from earlier elections in Norway, show that voters can also mobilize when public opinion polls indicate very close races. Also when many small parties are hovering around the so-called sperregrensen, the number of votes needed to qualify for more representation in Parliament. It’s currently set at 4 percent of vote.
High voter turnout is important to the legitimacy of the political system, Broderstad added. In some areas of Norway, more than 85 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots, including Nesodden, Bærum and the small island community of Utsira off the coast at Haugesund.
NewsinEnglish.no/Nina Berglund
