The Head of State is the King who consults with the cabinet, which is the incumbent government. He holds executive power. Tasks such as drafting laws and submitting the draft budget are coordinated under the leadership of the Prime Minister. The government body is completed with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Finance. Legislative power lies with the Norwegian Parliament. It is the highest political body in the country and consists of 169 elected members who represent the population of all counties and who are responsible for tasks such as passing laws, passing the national budget and monitoring the work of the government. According to the Constitution of Norway, which was adopted in 1814, judicial power is vested in the Supreme Courts and the subordinate courts, and in the Court of Impeachment. Stortinget, the parliament building in Oslo, has been the seat of the Norwegian National Assembly since 1866.
The new Government of Norway was appointed by King Harald V in January 2018. Like before the election, it is a center-right coalition, led by Erna Solberg, the Prime Minister of Norway. This government represents the Conservative Party (Høyre) and the Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet). In conjunction with the Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti) and the Liberal Party (Venstre), this government has a parliamentary majority of 88 seats. The opposition consists to a large extent of the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet).
According to the 2017 election results of week 39, the Conservatives have 45 seats in the parliament, while the Progress Party has 27 seats. The Christian Democratic Party (Kristelig Folkeparti) and the Liberal Party (Venstre) each own 8 seats. Despite having received the largest share of votes, the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) lost 6 seats and took up 49 seats in the Norwegian Parliament. 19 seats belong to the Center Party (Senterpartiet), 11 seats belong to the Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti) and the Green Party (Miljøpartiet De Grønne) is represented with 1 seat in the parliament. A new party in the parliament is the Red Party (Rødt), also represented with 1 seat.
The Labour Party, with their present leader Jonas Gahr Støre, was the favored party of most Norwegian voters, according to actual votes and polls results. Its social-democratic politics convinced 27.4 percent of the voters in the election of 2017. From 2002 to 2014, Jens Stoltenberg was leading the party and was also Prime Minister of Norway from 2005 to 2013. He was succeeded by Erna Solberg, who is the leader of the Conservative Party. Over 46 percent of Norwegians surveyed in August 2017 consider her to be best for this position also in the upcoming legislative period. Ine Eriksen Søreide, another member of the Conservative Party, is the Minister of Foreign Affairs. They obtained 25 percent of the votes in the election of 2017. Compared to the voting turnout of the last Norwegian Parliament election, the party lost some of their supporters, the share fell from 26.8 percent in 2013 to 25 percent received in 2017. Other parties that larger shares of the population voted for are the Progress Party and the Center Party. The Progress Party is led by Siv Jensen, who has been Norway’s Minister of Finance since 2013. The party’s orientation is libertarian, with a tendency for anti-immigration policies, whereas the Center Party follows the ideology of agrarianism and is opposing a European Union membership.
Sametingsvalg - Sami parliamentary election in Norway 2017
Parallel to the parliamentary election in Norway, the Sami parliamentary election takes place. The Sami are indigenous people inhabiting Northern Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. All Sami, registered in the electoral register of the Norwegian Sami parliament have the right to vote. In 2017, this applied to roughly 17 thousand people. For this purpose, the whole country of Norway is grouped into 7 constituencies. The Sami Parliament of Norway (Sametinget / Sámediggi) is an independent institution and a mouthpiece of the Sami in Norway.
The Norwegian Sami Parliament is located in Karasjok in Finnmark county and consists of 39 representatives. It is not a subordinate body in relation to the government and is therefore not subject to the instructional authority and control of the latter. Thus, it is consulted by the Norwegian Parliament in case of policies directly concerning Sami people’s interests. The responsible authority in the Norwegian Parliament is the Department of Sami and Minority Affairs. The Sami Parliament’s tasks include monitoring and maintaining the language, culture and commercial aims of the country's Sami population. It was and is also in the new election period led by Aili Keskitalo, who is the current president of the Sami Parliament of Norway. In the 2017 election, the Norwegian Sami Association (Norske Samers Risksforbund) received the most votes, which amounted to approximately 3,303, and hence the largest share in total (28.1 percent). Second was the Labour Party, with a share of 17 percent, ahead of Árja, with a share of 7.7 percent. Among the 12 parties now owning mandates in the Norwegian Sami parliament, the Norwegian Sami Association owns 16 seats and the Labour Party is represented with 9 seats. After the 2017 election was completed, Árja received 3 seats.
The next parliamentary election in Norway is set for September 2021.
