Norway has two main elections: parliamentary elections (Stortingsvalg) and local elections (municipal and county council elections, Kommunestyre- og fylkestingsvalg), both held every four years but offset by two years. The elections are based on proportional representation (forholdstallsvalg). You can vote in advance or on election day, and you must show identification. Norwegian citizens vote in all elections. Foreign citizens can vote in local elections after three years of continuous residence — Nordic citizens may vote once they are registered (folkeregistrert).
Two elections, two years apart
Norway holds two types of regular elections:
- Parliamentary elections (Stortingsvalg) elect the 169 representatives to the Storting (Stortinget), the national assembly that passes laws and the state budget. These are held every four years: 2021, 2025, 2029. The last one was 8 September 2025, and the next is in 2029.
- Local elections (Kommunestyre- og fylkestingsvalg) elect politicians in your municipality and county. These are also held every four years, but offset by two years: 2023, 2027, 2031. The last one was 11 September 2023, and the next is in September 2027.
The fact that elections are offset by two years is intentional: it gives local politics and national politics each their own campaign, so that local issues do not drown in national ones. Additionally, Sámi Parliament elections (Sametingsvalg) are held simultaneously with the parliamentary election, for those registered in the Sámi Parliament's electoral register (valgmanntall). Election day is always a Monday in September, but the municipality can also open polling stations on the Sunday before.
Proportional representation and the threshold
Norway uses proportional representation (forholdstallsvalg). This means that parties get representatives in proportion to how many votes they receive — if a party gets 20 percent of the votes, it should roughly have about 20 percent of the seats. This allows smaller parties to enter the Storting, unlike countries where the winner in each district takes all.
The 169 parliamentary seats are distributed like this:
| Type of mandate | Number | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| District mandates (Distriktsmandater) | 150 | Distributed among the 19 electoral districts |
| Adjustment mandates (Utjevningsmandater) | 19 | Corrects imbalances on a nationwide basis |
Each of the 19 electoral districts (essentially the former counties) has a fixed number of district mandates, calculated based on both population and area. Within the district, seats are distributed between parties according to a mathematical method. Adjustment mandates exist to make the overall result more fair on a nationwide basis. But an important rule applies here: the 4 percent threshold. A party must get at least 4 percent of votes nationwide to be included in the distribution of adjustment mandates. Parties below the threshold can still win district mandates where they are strong, but miss out on adjustment mandates — which can cost them several seats in the Storting.
If you want to understand how the Storting and power distribution are connected, read how democracy works in Norway.
Who can vote — and when foreigners can vote
The rules differ for the two elections. Common to all is that you must reach 18 years of age during the election year and be on the electoral register (manntall) (the official list of eligible voters).
Parliamentary elections: Only Norwegian citizens can vote. You must be or have been registered as a resident of Norway. Foreign citizens cannot vote in parliamentary elections, regardless of how long they have lived here.
Local elections (Kommunestyre- og fylkestingsvalg): Here, foreign citizens can also vote:
- Non-Nordic citizens can vote if they have been continuously registered as residents of Norway for the three years preceding election day.
- Nordic citizens (Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Finland) can vote if they are registered as residents of Norway by 30 June of the election year — that is, as soon as they are registered (folkeregistrert).
Note that EEA or EU citizenship does not provide any extra right here: all non-Nordic citizens must meet the three-year requirement. Yet this is still one of the most important rights many newcomers do not know about. If you live legally in Norway and meet the residence requirement, you can participate in decisions in your municipality long before you might eventually become a Norwegian citizen. If you want to know more about the path forward, see requirements for Norwegian citizenship.
How you vote — in advance or on election day
You do not need to register. If you have the right to vote, you are automatically entered in the electoral register, and you receive a voting card (valgkort) (on paper or digitally). The voting card is not necessary to vote, but makes it faster.
You can vote in two ways:
- Advance voting: Regular advance voting starts 10 August in the election year and lasts until the last Friday before election day. You can vote in advance in any municipality in the country, and if you live abroad, you can vote in advance at many embassies and consulates. If you need to vote very early, you can «vote early» from 1 July.
- Vote on election day: On election day itself, you must vote in the municipality where you are registered (manntallsført) (where you are registered as a resident).
In either case, you must show identification with your name, date of birth, and a photo — for example, a passport, driver's license, or a photo ID card. The actual voting is secret: you take ballot papers behind a booth, fold the ballot you want to use, and an election official stamps it and crosses you off in the register before you place it in the ballot box.
Can you influence who gets elected?
You vote for a party, but on the actual ballot you can also influence which people from the party get in — and the rules differ for the two elections:
- In local elections, you have real power over the people. You can give a candidate an extra personal vote (personstemme) (put a cross), and you can even enter candidates from other parties' lists («slengere»). This can move candidates up and decide who actually gets elected.
- In parliamentary elections, by contrast, the parties' own ranking of their list essentially determines who gets elected; voters' changes have very little effect today.
You never need to change the ballot — if you leave it as it is, it counts fully for the party.
Why your vote matters
Voting is a right, not a duty, in Norway. But the local politicians you help elect decide over kindergarten, school, elder care, public transport, and how the municipality spends its money — things that directly affect your daily life. Voter turnout tends to be lower in local elections than in parliamentary elections, and then each individual vote in the municipal election often carries extra weight.
If you want to test your knowledge of how the Storting is structured, you can practice with the Storting for the citizenship exam. Understanding the electoral system is not just useful for the exam — it is the key to using your right to vote correctly.
