{"id":2796,"date":"2021-09-13T11:12:59","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T11:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/?p=2796"},"modified":"2021-09-13T14:41:48","modified_gmt":"2021-09-13T14:41:48","slug":"election-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/norwegian\/election-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Election Time!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Today Norwegians elect their reps for Stortinget<\/strong> \u2013 the yellow parliament building to the left \u2013 in Oslo. (Photo by Gunnar Ridderstr\u00f6m<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>; no copyright.)<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s election time in Norway! Today, all Norwegian citizens get the chance to vote for their favourite parti<\/strong> [parTEE] and help decide who\u2019ll be the country\u2019s next PM (in Norwegian: statsminister<\/strong>, \u201dminister of the state\u201d): Will Erna Solberg<\/strong> stay in power or will folk<\/strong> (people) pick somebody else?<\/p>\n

My predecessor Kari already<\/a> described how makt<\/strong> (power) is shared in Norway, so I\u2019ll stick to the basics here:<\/p>\n

\u2022 den norske kongen<\/strong> (the Norwegian king) Harald doesn\u2019t really have anything to say politically \u2013 he\u2019s more like a symbolic \u201dfather-of-the-nation\u201d figure1<\/a><\/sup>This is called a constitutional monarchy. It\u2019s comparable to the situation in the UK, where Queen Elizabeth is on all the coins but does not decide the politics.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 the Norwegian parliament is called The Great Thing, Stortinget<\/strong>, consisting of 169 representanter<\/strong> (delegates) from all over the country<\/p>\n

\u2022 hvert fjerde \u00e5r<\/strong> (every fourth year) there is a general election \u2013 stortingsvalg<\/strong>. If a party \u2013 or an alliance of parties \u2013 gets more than 50% of the 169 seats, they can then create a flertallsregjering<\/strong> (majority government). Otherwise, a mindretallsregjering<\/strong> (minority gov\u2019t) will have to do the trick \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

In many countries, there is a struggle between two major political \u201dblocks\u201d (think Trump vs Biden in the US), and Norway also has this tendency. For years after WW2, the country was totally dominated by the \u201dleft wing\u201d2<\/a><\/sup>These words must be understood in a European context. \ud83d\ude42 I know that some Americans used to think that European countries were all \u201dcommunists\u201d \u2013 Norwegian governments have never been that extreme! Both \u201dleft\u201d and \u201dright\u201d parties in Norway have a tendency to gravitate towards the centre, and in reality the difference between AP and H\u00f8yre is not that big, or so I\u2019m told! \ud83d\ude42<\/span> Arbeiderpartiet<\/strong> (Workers\u2019 Party = Social Democrats). Maybe you\u2019ve heard about the famous female PM from that party, Gro Harlem Brundtland<\/strong>? At some point, \u201dright wing\u201d governments, dominated by the party H\u00f8yre<\/strong> (Right), entered the chat. And although Stortinget<\/strong> nowadays has reps from 9 different partier<\/strong>, people still talk about<\/p>\n

\u2022 Venstresiden<\/strong> (\u201dThe Left Side\u201d, \u201dred\u201d parties more inspired by socialism): Arbeiderpartiet<\/strong>, Sosialistisk Venstreparti<\/strong>, R\u00f8dt<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u2022 H\u00f8yresiden<\/strong> (\u201dThe Right Side\u201d, \u201dblue\u201d parties more inspired by liberalism or conservatism): H\u00f8yre, Fremskrittspartiet<\/strong><\/p>\n

So, that\u2019s 5 parties. \ud83d\ude42 The remaining 4 are considered sentrum<\/strong> (centre) parties, who may join a government on either \u201dside\u201d3<\/a><\/sup>There are shades here, for example KrF is more \u201drightwing\u201d than Sp, but let\u2019s keep it simple for now! \ud83d\ude42<\/span>: Senterpartiet, Venstre, Milj\u00f8partiet De Gr\u00f8nne, Kristelig Folkeparti<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When I spent time in Norway last month, nyhetene<\/strong> (the news) were totally dominated by valget<\/strong>. PM Erna Solberg<\/strong> from H\u00f8yre<\/strong> was touring the country trying to convince Norwegians not to vote for her competitor, Jonas Gahr St\u00f8re<\/strong> from Arbeiderpartiet.<\/strong> I dette valget er det ogs\u00e5 en tredje statsministerkandidat <\/strong>(in these elections there even is a third PM candidate): Trygve Slagsvold Vedum<\/strong> from the pro-farmer party Senterpartiet<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

How much should the districts decide? How many immigrants should Norway welcome? What should the relationship between Norway and the EU be like? Those are some of the traditional viktige saker<\/strong> (important topics) for many velgere<\/strong> (voters). This year, klima<\/strong> (climate) seems to be a very hot topic in the debates. Norge<\/strong> is one of the world\u2019s richest countries, but a lot of the wealth comes from the sale of olje<\/strong> [olyeh] (oil), which isn\u2019t exactly gr\u00f8nn<\/strong> (green), so what to do\u2026<\/p>\n

Valglokalene stenger klokka 21 i dag. <\/strong>(The polling stations close at 9 PM today.) Tomorrow we\u2019ll maybe know who\u2019ll be in charge of the beautiful country of Norway for the next 4 years! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Godt valg!<\/strong> (Happy Elections!)<\/p>\n