Parliamentary Elections

In September every fourth year, representatives are elected to the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget). The next parliamentary election will take place on 8 September 2025.

Each municipality and county authority is responsible for organizing the election, while the Norwegian Directorate of Elections and the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development hold overarching responsibility.

As a voter, your primary point of contact is your municipality. The municipality selects suitable polling stations where you can cast your vote, ensures that election staff have received proper training, procures all necessary equipment used at the polling station, and establishes procedures to ensure that your vote is securely counted and stored throughout the entire election process.

Voting Period

Norway has one of the longest voting periods in the world. It is possible to vote over a span of more than two months – starting with early voting on 1 July, continuing with advance voting from 11 August, and concluding on election day, 8 September. Additionally, a little over 100 municipalities typically keep polling stations open on Sunday, 7 September.

For early voting, you must contact the municipality in which you wish to vote directly to arrange the time and location for casting your ballot. Early voting is primarily intended for voters who are unable to vote during the regular advance voting period.

Advance voting begins on 11 August, and from that date you can find a polling station near you at www.valglokaler.no. The final deadline for advance voting is 5 September.

Please note that voting is not possible on Saturday, 6 September. If you are a student or reside in a location other than where you are officially registered, you must remember to vote in advance by 5 September.

Election day is Monday, 8 September. Municipalities may also choose to keep polling stations open on Sunday, 7 September. On election day(s), you must vote in the municipality where you are officially registered as a resident.

Voting from Abroad

It is also possible to vote in advance from abroad. From 1 July to 29 August, voters residing or staying outside Norway may cast their advance vote at Norwegian embassies and other foreign service missions, or with other designated voting officials. Voters abroad who are unable to visit a voting official may vote by mail.

Voting at Home or in an Institution

Voters who are ill or have reduced functional ability may apply to vote from home or from their place of residence. If a voter wishes to vote from home, they must apply to their municipality no later than 12:00 noon on the Thursday before election day – which this year is 4 September.

Residents and patients in health and care institutions, as well as inmates in correctional facilities, may vote in advance from their place of residence.

Who Is Eligible to Vote?

Norway practices universal suffrage, but certain requirements must be met. You must be a Norwegian citizen, have reached the age of 18 by the end of 2025, and be registered in the National Population Register as residing in Norway.

If you meet these criteria, you will be entered into the electoral roll. In official terminology, all individuals eligible to vote in Norway are referred to as eligible voters.

The Electoral Roll – An Overview of All Eligible Voters

All individuals who are eligible to vote are listed in the electoral roll. This is the register that municipalities consult when you arrive to vote, and it ensures that no one can vote more than once.

30 June is a key date for the electoral roll. On this date, the residential address of all eligible voters is recorded and used as the basis for the election. If you move after 30 June, you will retain voting rights in the municipality where you lived on that date – not in your new municipality.

If you become eligible to vote between 30 June and election day – for example, by acquiring Norwegian citizenship – you will be entered into the electoral roll in the municipality where you are registered as a resident. If you turn 18 during 2025, this has already been accounted for, and you will be included in the electoral roll.

The Norwegian Directorate of Elections is responsible for preparing the electoral roll for each election. The Directorate forwards the roll to the municipalities, which use it when you, as a voter, arrive to cast your ballot.

Identification Requirement When Voting

In order for election officials to locate you in the electoral roll, they must be able to verify your identity. Voters are required to present valid identification when voting. If you forget your ID, the only way you may still vote is if the election official personally knows you. If not, you will be asked to retrieve your identification.

There are three generally accepted forms of identification that all municipalities must approve: passport, national ID card, or driver’s license (including digital versions).

The identification must include your name, date of birth, and a photograph of your face. The election official must be able to recognize you from the photo and be confident that you are who you claim to be. In making this assessment, the official will also consider whether the ID can be regarded as official. This means that other types of identification may be accepted, but this is subject to discretionary judgment.

There is no requirement for the ID to be valid at the time of voting. Expired identification may still be used, provided it meets the criteria mentioned above.

Municipalities Must Provide Universally Designed Polling Stations

It is essential for democracy that everyone is able to vote, regardless of functional ability. The polling stations used by municipalities must be universally designed. This means that, as a voter, you should be able to enter and move around the polling station independently, regardless of your individual circumstances.

Municipalities are required to comply with the Equality and Anti-Discrimination Act. However, exceptions may be necessary in cases where voting must take place in premises that are not accessible without assistance. Such exceptions must be based on specific circumstances – for example, if no other suitable premises are available in the municipality, or if securing a universally designed location would be disproportionately expensive.

Considerations of equal treatment and individual freedom of choice support the use of premises where voters require as little assistance as possible to enter. The exception rule must be applied strictly, and the threshold for invoking it should be high.

Right to Assistance Inside the Voting Booth

Voters who are unable to vote independently due to a disability have the right to receive assistance from a person of their own choosing. The assistant may be an election official or another individual present at the polling station. Any assistant is bound by a duty of confidentiality if they become aware of how the voter casts their vote, and an election official is responsible for informing the assistant of this obligation.

Political Parties on the Ballot

To participate in the election, all parties or groups must submit candidate lists to the county authorities by 31 March at 12:00 noon. After the county authority has reviewed the submissions against a set of requirements, the constituency electoral board will decide whether to approve or reject them. The deadline for these decisions is 2 June.

Approved submissions are referred to as ballot lists, and these form the basis of the printed ballots.

A ballot list is a ranked overview of candidates standing for election in a constituency on behalf of a party or group. Only individuals listed on an approved ballot list are eligible to be elected to the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget).

The Voting Process

In Norway, elections are conducted by secret ballot. This means that only you should know how you voted. When you go to vote, you must be given the opportunity to make your choice in private, without observation.

Upon arrival at the polling station, you will be greeted by an election official who will direct you to the voting booth and ensure that the curtain behind you is drawn closed.

In front of you, you will find shelves containing ballot papers for all parties standing for election in your constituency. If you do not see the party you wish to vote for, there is also a ballot paper listing all registered political parties that received a certain level of support in the previous election. On this paper, you may mark the party you wish to vote for, or write in the name of another party or group. You may also choose a blank ballot.

Select the ballot paper you wish to use and fold it with the stamp field facing outward. Instructions on the ballot paper will indicate which side should be folded inward.

After selecting your ballot, proceed to the ballot box. There, you must present your identification to the election officials and wait while they locate your name in the electoral roll and mark you as having voted. You will then be instructed to place the ballot on the table. The election official will stamp the ballot and open the ballot box. You may then place your ballot into the box.

1. Enter the voting booth and draw the curtain behind you.
2. Select the ballot paper you wish to use and fold it with the stamp field facing outward.
3. Proceed to the table by the ballot box and present your identification.
4. The election official will stamp your ballot paper.
5. Place the ballot paper into the ballot box.

Exceptions to the Standard Voting Procedure

In certain cases, voters may need to cast their vote in a manner different from the standard process described above. These situations typically involve submitting the vote in an envelope.

Reasons a vote may need to be cast in an envelope include:

• The voter is casting an advance vote in a municipality other than the one in which they are registered in the electoral roll
• The voter is casting an advance vote from abroad
• The election official is unable to locate the voter in the electoral roll
• The municipality has chosen to use a paper-based electoral roll on election day
• The voter appears at a polling station in a constituency other than the one in which they are registered
• An emergency situation has occurred, causing the polling station to lose access to the electronic electoral roll

 

Voting by envelope follows this procedure:

1. Enter the voting booth and draw the curtain behind you.
2. Select the ballot paper you wish to use and fold it with the stamp field facing outward.
3. Proceed to the table by the ballot box and present your identification.
4. The election official uses your ID to complete an information card – this will later be used to locate you in the electoral roll and confirm your voting eligibility.
5. The election official stamps your ballot paper.
6. You are given a brown ballot envelope.
7. Place the folded ballot paper into the brown envelope and seal it.
8. Hand the sealed brown envelope to the election official.
9. The official places the envelope into a cover envelope along with the information card containing your details, and seals it.
10. You receive the sealed cover envelope and place it into the ballot box yourself.

 

The step-by-step opening procedure involves:

1. Opening the outer cover envelope.
2. Separating the information card containing the voter’s details from the brown ballot envelope containing the ballot paper, and placing each in separate stacks.
3. Other personnel then open the brown envelopes.
4. Having different individuals open the brown envelopes is necessary if this step occurs in the same process (same location and time) as steps 1–2. If it takes place later – for example, after envelopes have been collected throughout the voting period – this is not required.
5. Separating the ballot paper from the brown envelope.
6. After this process, the municipality is left with ballot papers that will be included in the vote count.

There Is Always Someone Responible in the Polling Station

If any issues arise – such as disturbances in the polling station, uncertainty regarding a voter’s identification, or questions about a voter’s right to receive assistance – a designated leader and deputy leader have the authority and responsibility to handle the situation. The leader and deputy leader hold overall responsibility for everything that takes place in the polling station while it is open for voting.

On election day, the leader is also responsible for counting the votes cast at the polling station and for ensuring that a record is kept of the counting process.

In principle, anyone may serve as an election official during the conduct of the election. However, there are specific exceptions for candidates standing for election in the relevant constituency. These candidates may not perform duties as election officials in polling stations, nor may they participate in the counting of votes.

Beyond this, there are few restrictions on who may serve as an election official – there are no formal requirements regarding age or residency in the municipality. Nevertheless, individual municipalities may have local guidelines that impose certain limitations.

The roles of leader and deputy leader in a polling station require particular personal suitability and carry significant responsibility for ensuring that voting takes place in a calm and orderly manner at all times, and that all voters have a positive experience when casting their vote.

How the Votes Are Counted

In Norwegian elections, ballot papers are counted multiple times to ensure the accuracy of results from each polling station, municipality, and electoral district. In parliamentary elections, ballots are counted three times: twice by the municipalities and once by the county authority.

Municipalities count all ballots twice – once at the polling stations on election day, and once centrally within the municipality. In addition, advance votes and envelope votes are counted twice at the central municipal level. The first count must always be conducted manually – the use of counting machines is not permitted. For the second count, municipalities may choose to use automated counting, but only with software provided by the Norwegian Directorate of Elections. Municipalities may also opt to conduct all or part of the second count manually.

Counting begins on the Sunday before election day. In 2025, this is Sunday, 7 September. On this day, municipalities may count all advance votes received, allowing them to complete a significant portion of the counting before polling stations close on election day.

On election day itself, voters cast their ballots throughout the day, but counting does not begin until the polling stations close – typically at 21:00. The counting process begins with election officials sorting and preparing the ballots, followed by a tally of the total number of votes. If any votes were cast in envelopes, or if any ballot papers cannot be approved, these are sent to the central municipal office for separate review.

Preparation for counting is carried out by at least two elections officials who:

1. Empty the contents of the ballot box.
2. Sort the contents into ballot papers and any envelopes.
3. Set the envelopes aside.
4. Sort the ballot papers by party, blank ballots, and any papers that cannot be approved.
5. Set aside the ballot papers that cannot be approved.
6. Organize the ballot papers by party and blank ballots into stacks of a specified number, as determined by the municipality.

 

The counting process is carried out by at least two elections officials who:

1. Verify the stacks from step 4 above to ensure the number of ballot papers in each stack is correct.
2. Sum the stacks by party.
3. Enter the results of the count into the electronic system.

In certain exceptional cases, there may not be enough individuals registered in the electoral roll for a specific polling station (voting district) to allow for separate counting of ballots. There must be more than 100 registered voters for ballots to be counted locally. If there are fewer than 100 registered voters, the ballots are transported to the central municipal office and counted twice there.

The same applies to advance voting if fewer than 60 votes have been received. These requirements are in place to safeguard the principle of secret voting.

Votes That Cannot Be Approved

When we refer to votes that cannot be approved, this generally concerns two separate aspects: votes cast in envelopes and the ballot papers themselves. Different approval criteria apply to each.

Envelope votes consit of:

• A cover envelope
• An information card containing the voter’s details
• A brown ballot envelope containing the actual ballot paper

For such a vote to be approved, the following conditions must be met:

• The voter is registered in the electoral roll of the municipality
• The identity of the voter can be confirmed
• The vote was cast at a location where voting is permitted
• It is unlikely that the cover envelope has been opened
• The voter has not previously had a vote approved
• The vote was received by the municipality between 1 July (from abroad) / 11 August (domestic) and 9 September at 17:00

All of these conditions must be met for an envelope vote to be approved. If any one of them is not fulfilled, the vote must be rejected. For example, an envelope vote must be rejected if the voter has already voted – which may occur if the voter first cast an envelope vote and later voted in person in their home municipality.

The requirement that the vote must be cast at a location where voting is permitted does not apply if the voter is casting an advance vote from abroad by mail.

Requirements for Approval of the Ballot Paper

Before counting begins, election officials must prepare the ballot papers for tallying. During this preparation, they assess whether each individual ballot paper meets the criteria for approval. The requirements are:

• The ballot paper bears an official stamp
• It clearly indicates which election it pertains to
• It clearly shows which party or group the voter has voted for
• The party or group is standing for election in the constituency

All of these requirements must be met for the ballot paper to be approved. Only blank ballot papers are exempt from fulfilling all criteria, as they do not indicate which party or group the voter has voted for.

Election Settlement and Allocation of Constituency Seats

A total of 169 representatives are elected to the Norwegian Parliament (Stortinget). Of these, 150 are constituency seats distributed across the 19 electoral districts, and 19 are leveling seats – one for each district. The county authority/constituency electoral board is responsible for the election settlement. During this process, the constituency seats for the district are allocated.

Before each parliamentary election, it is determined how many seats are to be elected from each district. This is calculated based on both area and population, but each district must have a minimum of four seats, including the leveling seat. The calculation is carried out by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development.

District	Seats
Akershus	20
Aust-Agder	4
Buskerud	8
Finnmark Finnmàrku	4
Hedmark	7
Hordaland	16
Møre og Romsdal	8
Nord-Trøndelag	5
Nordland	9
Oppland	6
Oslo	20
Rogaland	14
Sogn og Fjordane	4
Sør-Trøndelag	10
Telemark	6
Troms Romsa	6
Vest-Agder	6
Vestfold	7
Østfold	9

Election settlement is carried out using a modified version of Sainte-laguë method, with an initial divisor of 1.4.

In practice, constituency seats are calculated by summing the votes for each party within the electoral district. The vote totals are then divided by 1.4, 3, 5, 7, and so on, until it is determined how many seats each list will receive. Each party ends up with a set of quotients.

Table 1: Example with four seats. Seats 1, 2, 3 and 4. * indicates that the party received a seat.

DIVISOR:		1,4	3	5	7
PARTIES	VOTE TOTAL
PARTY A	150 000	107 142,9*	50 000,0*	30 000,0	21 428,6
PARTY B	100 000	71 428,6*	33 333,3	20 000,0	14 285,7
PARTY C	50 000	35 714,3*	16 666,7	10 000,0	7 142,9
PARTY D	10 000	7 142,9	3333,3	2000,0	1 428

The Norwegian Directorate of Elections is responsible for calculating the allocation of leveling seats. This calculation is based on viewing Norway as a single electoral district. Only registered parties that stand for election in all districts and receive at least four percent of the vote are eligible for leveling seats. This four percent threshold is commonly referred to as the electoral threshold.

The number of leveling seats each qualifying party receives is determined through several calculations.
First, the total of all 169 parliamentary seats is redistributed, treating the entire country as one constituency. The distribution is again carried out using the Sainte-Laguë method, with 1.4 as the initial divisor.

The number of seats each party receives in this national distribution is then compared to the number of constituency seats the party has already won. The difference between these two numbers determines how many leveling seats the party is entitled to. If one or more parties have already received more seats than the national distribution indicates, the calculation is repeated without those parties.

The next step is to determine in which electoral district each party will receive its leveling seat(s). This is done by calculating a district factor, which is the number of valid votes in the district divided by the number of constituency seats. For example, if 100,000 votes were cast in the district and ten constituency seats were allocated, the factor would be 100,000 / 10 = 10,000.

Then, the number of votes each party received in the district is used to determine where the leveling seats should be placed. If the party did not win any constituency seats in the district, the raw number of votes is used. If the party has won constituency seats, the number of votes is divided by a quotient equal to (number of constituency seats × 2) + 1.

 

The Entire Process is Documented

All vote counting is documented in official records. The conduct of the election in each municipality and county authority is recorded in protocols from the polling stations, the municipal electoral board, and the constituency electoral board. In addition to the actual counting, the protocols also indicate whether any incidents occurred during voting or other circumstances that may or may not have affected the conduct of the election.

The protocols are signed by the municipal electoral board and the constituency electoral board of the county authority, and serve as their formal confirmation of the approval of the election.

Protocols from the various electoral boards are available at www.valgresultat.no.

Elections and the Penal Code

The Penal Code addresses certain matters related to elections in Sections 151 to 154. Among other things, vote buying, undue influence, vote selling, unlawful participation in elections, and manipulation of election results are prohibited.

The Sámi Parliamentary Election Is Held Concurrently with the Parliamentary Election

The Sámi parliamentary election is held at the same time as the parliamentary election. Curious about how the Sámi election works? You can find more information at sametinget.no.