Norwegian Parliamentary Elections

AS OF 2026-08-30 · 63 CONTESTS · parliamentary, 8 September 2025 · WIKIPEDIA, NATIONAL ELECTORAL AUTHORITIES

Next election · parliamentary, September 2029 · Capital · Oslo in the metro rankings →

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Every Storting election from 1815 to September 2025: sixty years of indirect voting by landowners and officials with no parties at all, the impeachment that created parliamentary government, the dissolution of the union with Sweden, Labour's twenty years of single-party majorities, and the eight-party chamber of today.

Source: Wikipedia election articles · as of 2026-08-30

Storting seats

169

85 for a majority

Elections since 1815

September 2025

Labour seats, with the Progress Party second on 47

Latest

2025

Labour Party largest

Chronology The long arc in charts Records How it works

The chronology

Every Storting election since 1815, newest first. The first two dozen have no parties in them because none existed yet, and every member is listed as an independent.

The present Storting · 2017–2025

Erna Solberg's right-wing coalition held for eight years, Labour's Jonas Gahr Støre took it back in 2021 and lost his Centre Party partner over energy prices in 2025. That September the Progress Party finished second with 47 seats, its best result, and Labour was returned as a minority government all the same.

20258 September 2025

Labour Party 53/169turnout 80.1%

Labour Party 53Progress Party 47Conservative Party 24

202113 September 2021

Labour Party 48/169turnout 77.2%PM: Jonas Gahr Støre

Labour Party 48Conservative Party 36Centre Party 28

201711 September 2017

Labour Party 49/169turnout 78.4%

Labour Party 49Conservative Party 45Progress Party 27

The four-party system and after · 1985–2013

Labour's majorities went and did not come back. The Progress Party turned tax and immigration into a permanent bloc on the right, the Centre Party carried rural Norway against Europe in a second referendum in 1994, and government became a matter of assembling three or four parties rather than winning.

20138 and 9 September 2013

Labour Party 55/169turnout 78.3%

Labour Party 55Conservative Party 48Progress Party 29

200913 and 14 September 2009

Labour Party 64/169turnout 76.4%

Labour Party 64Progress Party 41Conservative Party 30

200511–12 September 2005

Labour Party 61/169turnout 77.4%

Labour Party 61Progress Party 38Conservative Party 23

20019–10 September 2001

Labour Party 43/165turnout 75.5%

Labour Party 43Conservative Party 38Progress Party 26

199715 September 1997

Labour Party 65/165turnout 78.3%

Labour Party 65Progress Party 25Christian Democratic Party 25

199312–13 September 1993

Labour Party 67/165turnout 75.8%

Labour Party 67Centre Party 32Conservative Party 28

198910 and 11 September 1989

Labour Party 63/165turnout 83.2%

Labour Party 63Conservative Party 37Progress Party 22

19858-9 September 1985

Labour Party 71/157turnout 84.0%

Labour Party 71Conservative Party 50Christian Democratic Party 16

Labour's long ascendancy · 1945–1981

Labour governed alone for the twenty years after the occupation, holding an absolute majority of seats at six consecutive elections, and built the Norwegian welfare state while doing it. The EEC referendum of 1972 split the country along a line that has never quite closed, and the oil began to arrive in the same decade.

198113 and 14 September 1981

Labour Party 66/155turnout 82.0%

Labour Party 66Conservative Party 53Christian Democratic Party 15

197711 and 12 September 1977

Labour Party 76/155turnout 82.9%

Labour Party 76Conservative Party 40Christian Democratic Party 18

19739-10 September 1973

Labour Party 62/155turnout 80.2%

Labour Party 62Conservative Party 29Christian Democratic Party 19

19697 and 8 September 1969

Labour Party 74/150turnout 83.8%

Labour Party 74Conservative Party 28Centre Party 17others 4

196512 and 13 September 1965

Labour Party 68/150turnout 85.4%

Labour Party 68Conservative Party 30Liberal Party 18

196111 September 1961

Labour Party 74/150turnout 79.1%

Labour Party 74Conservative Party 28Christian Democratic Party 14

19577 October 1957

Labour Party 78/150turnout 78.3%

Labour Party 78Conservative Party 25Liberal Party 15

195312 October 1953

Labour Party 77/150turnout 79.3%

Labour Party 77Conservative Party 26Liberal Party 15

194910 October 1949

Labour Party 85/150turnout 82.0%

Labour Party 85Conservative Party 21Liberal Party 20

19458 October 1945

Labour Party 76/150turnout 76.4%

Labour Party 76Conservative Party 25Liberal Party 20

Between the wars · 1921–1936

Proportional representation replaced single-member districts in 1921 and the Storting fragmented at once. Labour grew from a revolutionary party that had joined the Comintern into the largest in the country, took office briefly in 1928, and returned in 1935 on a crisis pact with the Agrarians that ended a decade of minority governments.

193619 October 1936

Labour Party 70/150turnout 84.0%

Labour Party 70Conservative Party–Free-minded People's Party 36Liberal Party 23

193316 October 1933

Labour Party 69/150turnout 76.3%

Labour Party 69Conservative Party 30Liberal Party 24

193020 October 1930

Labour Party 47/150turnout 77.5%

Labour Party 47Conservative Party 39Liberal Party 33

192717 October 1927

Labour Party 59/150turnout 68.0%

Labour Party 59Liberal Party 30Conservative Party 29others 1

192421 October 1924

Conservative Party 43/150turnout 69.8%

Conservative Party 43Liberal Party 34Labour Party 24

192124 October 1921

Conservative Party 42/150turnout 67.9%

Conservative Party 42Liberal Party 37Labour Party 29

Parliamentarism and the union's end · 1882–1918

The impeachment of the Selmer cabinet in 1884 established that a Norwegian government answers to the Storting rather than to the king in Stockholm, and Venstre and Høyre were founded within weeks of each other to fight over it. Universal male suffrage arrived in 1898 and turnout promptly passed 80%. The union with Sweden was dissolved in 1905 and women received the vote in 1913.

191821 October 1918

Liberal Party 51/126turnout 56.9%

Liberal Party 51Conservative Party 40Labour Party 18

191521 October 1915

Liberal Party 74/123turnout 57.6%

Liberal Party 74Conservative Party 20Labour Party 19

191221 October 1912

Liberal Party 70/123turnout 61.2%

Liberal Party 70Labour Party 23Conservative Party 20

19092−25 October 1909

Liberal Party 46/123turnout 56.6%

Liberal Party 46Conservative Party 41Labour Party 11others 23

19065−27 August 1906

Liberal Party 73/123turnout 60.9%

Liberal Party 73Coalition Party 36Labour Party 10

19036 August−16 September 1903

Liberal Party 48/117turnout 55.5%

Liberal Party 48Conservative Party 47Moderate Liberal Party 10others 5

19001900

Liberal Party 77/114turnout 57.3%

Liberal Party 77Conservative Party 31Moderate Liberal Party 6

18971897

Liberal Party 79/114turnout 85.3%

Liberal Party 79Conservative Party 25Moderate Liberal Party 10

18941894

Liberal Party 59/114turnout 90.2%

Liberal Party 59Conservative Party 40Moderate Liberal Party 15

18911891

Liberal Party 63/114turnout 80.2%

Liberal Party 63Conservative Party 35Moderate Liberal Party 16

18881888

Conservative Party 51/114turnout 70.4%

Conservative Party 51Liberal Party 38Moderate Liberal Party 25

18851885

Liberal Party 84/114turnout 75.1%

Liberal Party 84Conservative Party 30

18821882

Liberals (those forming the Liberal Party in 1884) 83/114turnout 72.5%

Liberals (those forming the Liberal Party in 1884) 83Conservatives (those forming the Conservative Party in 1884) 31

The officials' Storting · 1815–1879

Norway kept its own constitution and parliament through the union with Sweden, and elected them in two stages: voters chose electors, electors chose members. The franchise reached farmers who owned their land, townsmen of property and public officials, which in practice was a few per cent of the population, and no parties existed to organise any of it. Almost every member on this page is listed as an independent because that is what they were.

18791879

Independents 114/114turnout 48.7%

Independents 114

1876June 1876–26 February 1877

Independents 111/111turnout 43.1%

Independents 111

1873May 1873–14 February 1874

Independents 111/111turnout 45.6%

Independents 111

1870May 1870–14 February 1871

Independents 111/111turnout 45.1%

Independents 111

1868February–5 July 1868

Independents 111/111turnout 47.6%

Independents 111

1865February–6 June 1865

Independents 111/111turnout 41.8%

Independents 111

1862January–4 July 1862

Independents 111/111turnout 44.6%

Independents 111

1859March–23 June 1859

Independents 117/117turnout 47.7%

Independents 117

1856May–3 November 1856

Independents 111/111turnout 44.1%

Independents 111

1853Mai–14 November 1853

Independents 107/107turnout 45.5%

Independents 107

1850May–21 October 1850

Independents 106/106turnout 50.3%

Independents 106

1847May–30 September 1847

Independents 105/105turnout 49.1%

Independents 105

1844May–16 October 1844

Independents 102/102turnout 49.4%

Independents 102

1841June–12 November 1841

Independents 100/100turnout 51.1%

Independents 100

1838June–8 November 1838

Independents 99/99turnout 50.2%

Independents 99

1835June–7 December 1835

Independents 96/96turnout 52.3%

Independents 96

1832June–20 November 1832

Independents 95/95turnout 48.0%

Independents 95

1829June–28 November 1829

Independents 81/81turnout 45.3%

Independents 81

1826June–1 December 1826

Independents 79/79

Independents 79

1823June 1823–20 February 1824

Independents 77/77

Independents 77

1820May 1820–14 February 1821

Independents 77/77

Independents 77

1817August 1817–26 February 1818

Independents 78/78

Independents 78

18151815

Independents 85/87

Independents 85others 2

The long arc in charts

Hover any point for the exact figure.

Turnout since 1882

Norwegian turnout crossed 80% when universal male suffrage arrived in 1898 and has stayed near it ever since, without compulsion and without the postal machinery other countries rely on.

Turnout

Labour's share

From nothing in 1900 to 48% in 1957 to the high twenties today. No other line explains as much of the Norwegian century.

Largest party's vote share

Records & superlatives

Highest turnout

90.2%

1894, of the elections with a recorded figure

Lowest turnout

41.8%

1865

Highest vote share

63.4%

Liberal Party, 1885

Most seats won

117

Independents, 1859

Elections with no parties

1815 to 1879, before Venstre and Høyre existed

Labour majorities

consecutive absolute majorities of seats, 1945 to 1961

How Norwegian elections work

Proportional representation with levelling seats

150 district seats are allocated by a modified Sainte-Lague method across 19 constituencies, then 19 levelling seats correct the national result for parties that clear 4%. A party below the threshold can still win a district seat, which is how small regional lists reach the chamber.

A fixed four-year term with no early election

The Storting cannot be dissolved. A Norwegian government that loses its majority resigns or carries on as a minority, and the country still votes on the second Monday of September in the fourth year. Minority government is therefore normal rather than a crisis.

Rural seats weigh more

Seats are apportioned on a formula that counts area as well as population, so a vote in Finnmark carries more weight than a vote in Oslo. The effect is smaller than it was but has never been removed.

Sixty years without parties

Before 1884 there were no organised parties, so the early rows list every member as an independent. That is the record, not a gap in it: voters chose electors, electors chose officials and farmers, and the divisions were personal and regional.