Solberg’s right-wing coalition wins election

With 95% of the votes counted, the Norwegian parliament has a non-socialist majority. Prime Minister Erna Solberg says voters have given her a mandate for four more years.

Solberg heads the Conservative Party and has the Progress Party as coalition partner, supported in parliament by the Liberals and the Christian Democratic Party.

Erna Solberg told her supporters “we get four more years, because we have delivered results.”

Leader of the Labour Party, millionaire and former Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, calls the result “a huge disappointment.”

Regional reforms

In northern Norway, the Labour Party campaigned to revers the decision by the Government on merging the two northernmost counties, Troms and Finnmark. With the right-wing coalition still in power, the merge will take place, aimed at reducing bureaucracy.

The Labour Party, traditionally standing strong in the north, is down more than 8% in the three northernmost counties when 95% of the votes are counted. The eurosceptic Centre Party gained strong support, up between 8% and 11% in northern Norway.

Arctic oil

The Liberals, a support party for the current Solberg government, has said it will not support opening Lofoten or any new areas in the Barents Sea for oil drilling. With the election results, Arctic oil will still remain a major dispute in the parliament.

Online results

Updated Parliamentary election results are online here. You can search results nationwide, for counties, for municipalities and even for districts within each municipality.

Turnout percentage was 77,6%, down from 78,2% in 2013. Lowest turnout was in Finnmark county with 69,9%.