| Country: | Norway |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Previous Election: | 2001 Norwegian parliamentary election |
| Previous Year: | 2001 |
| Next Election: | 2009 Norwegian parliamentary election |
| Next Year: | 2009 |
| Seats For Election: | All 169 seats in the Storting |
| Majority Seats: | 85 |
| Election Date: | 11 and 12 September 2005 |
| Image1: | Jens Stoltenberg, Norges stasminister, under Nordisk-Baltiskt statsministermote i Reykjavik 2005.jpg |
| Leader1: | Jens Stoltenberg |
| Party1: | Norwegian Labour Party |
| Last Election1: | 24.29%, 43 seats |
| Seats1: | 61 |
| Seat Change1: | 18 |
| Popular Vote1: | 862,757 |
| Percentage1: | 32.69% |
| Swing1: | 8.40pp |
| Leader2: | Carl I. Hagen |
| Party2: | Progress Party (Norway) |
| Last Election2: | 14.64%, 26 seats |
| Seats2: | 38 |
| Seat Change2: | 12 |
| Popular Vote2: | 582,284 |
| Percentage2: | 22.06% |
| Swing2: | 7.42pp |
| Image3: | Erna Solberg 2009 Party Conference.jpg |
| Leader3: | Erna Solberg |
| Party3: | Conservative Party of Norway |
| Last Election3: | 21.21%, 38 seats |
| Seats3: | 23 |
| Seat Change3: | 15 |
| Popular Vote3: | 372,008 |
| Percentage3: | 14.10% |
| Swing3: | 7.11pp |
| Image4: | Kristin_Halvorsen_Sentralbanksjefens_årstale_2018_(191746).jpg |
| Leader4: | Kristin Halvorsen |
| Party4: | Socialist Left Party (Norway) |
| Last Election4: | 12.55%, 23 seats |
| Seats4: | 15 |
| Seat Change4: | 8 |
| Popular Vote4: | 232,971 |
| Percentage4: | 8.83% |
| Swing4: | 3.72pp |
| Image5: | Dagfinn Hoybraten, blivande president for Nordiska radet 2007.jpg |
| Leader5: | Dagfinn Høybråten |
| Party5: | Christian Democratic Party (Norway) |
| Last Election5: | 12.41%, 22 seats |
| Seats5: | 11 |
| Seat Change5: | 11 |
| Popular Vote5: | 178,885 |
| Percentage5: | 6.78% |
| Swing5: | 5.63pp |
| Image6: | Aslaug Haga.png |
| Leader6: | Åslaug Haga |
| Party6: | Centre Party (Norway) |
| Last Election6: | 5.56%, 10 seats |
| Seats6: | 11 |
| Seat Change6: | 1 |
| Popular Vote6: | 171,063 |
| Percentage6: | 6.48% |
| Swing6: | 0.92pp |
| Image7: | Lars Sponheim 1.jpg |
| Leader7: | Lars Sponheim |
| Party7: | Liberal Party of Norway |
| Last Election7: | 3.91%, 2 seats |
| Seats7: | 10 |
| Seat Change7: | 8 |
| Popular Vote7: | 156,113 |
| Percentage7: | 5.92% |
| Swing7: | 2.01pp |
| Prime Minister | |
| Posttitle: | Prime Minister after election |
| Before Election: | Kjell Magne Bondevik |
| Before Party: | Christian Democratic Party (Norway) |
| After Election: | Jens Stoltenberg |
| After Party: | Norwegian Labour Party |
Parliamentary elections were held in Norway on 11 and 12 September 2005.[1] The result was a victory for the opposition centre-left Red-Green Coalition, which received 48.0% of the votes and won 87 out of 169 seats, dominated by the Labour Party's 61 seats. The three-party centre-right government coalition won 44 seats and the right wing Progress Party won 38, becoming the largest opposition party. Voter turnout was 77.1%, an increase of 2 percentage points compared to the 2001 elections.
See also: List of political parties in Norway.
| Name | Ideology | Position | Leader | 2001 result | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes (%) | Seats | ||||||||
| align=center | Ap | Labour Party Arbeiderpartiet | Social democracy | Centre-left | Jens Stoltenberg | align=center | 24.2% | ||
| align=center | H | Conservative Party Høyre | Liberal conservatism | Centre-right | Erna Solberg | align=center | 21.2% | ||
| align=center | FrP | Progress Party Fremskrittspartiet | Conservative liberalism | Right-wing | Carl I. Hagen | align=center | 14.6% | ||
| SV | Socialist Left Party Sosialistisk Venstreparti | Democratic socialism | Left-wing | Kristin Halvorsen | 12.5% | ||||
| KrF | Christian Democratic Party Kristelig Folkeparti | Christian democracy | Centre to centre-right | Dagfinn Høybråten | 12.4% | ||||
| align=center | Sp | Centre Party Senterpartiet | Agrarianism | Centre | Åslaug Haga | align=center | 5.5% | ||
| align=center | V | Liberal Party Venstre | Social liberalism | Centre | Lars Sponheim | align=center | 3.9% | ||
| Kp | Coastal Party Kystpartiet | Northern-regionalism | Centre to centre-right | Roy Waage | 1.7% | ||||
Before the election, Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik led a coalition government consisting of the Conservative Party (38 seats in parliament), Christian People's Party (22 seats and supplied the prime minister) and the Liberals (2 seats), with the conditional support of the right-wing Progress Party. Between them, the three main parties of the coalition held 62 seats in the outgoing 165-seat Storting. The Progress Party held an additional 26, giving the four parties a majority when acting together.
Divisions within the coalition led to the temporary withdrawal of support by the Progress Party in November 2004, in response to what they saw as the government's underfunding of hospitals; an agreement was later reached. The government also attracted criticism for its handling of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, in which several Norwegians died, with the prime minister admitting to mistakes in his government's delayed reaction to the disaster.
The question of private schools was controversial in 2005, with the opposition Labour Party, Socialist Left Party and Centre Party rejecting the government's plan to allow schools other than those offering an "alternative education", or those founded on religious beliefs, to become private.
Amidst a decline in the personal popularity of the prime minister, opinion polls in early 2005 indicated a clear lead for the Labour Party. Its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, was prime minister from March 2000 to October 2001, and enjoyed widespread public support in the run-up to the election. Polling suggests that the Labour, Socialist Left and Centre parties could form a red–green coalition, which would command a majority in the Storting. Labour and Socialist Left have pledged to maintain their allegiance with the Centre party even if the latter were not necessary to obtain a majority.
In June the leader of the Progress Party, Carl I. Hagen, said his party would not support a new coalition if Bondevik re-emerges as the prime minister after the election, implicitly pointing at Erna Solberg, leader of the conservative party as a better candidate.
A week before the elections, the Socialist Left Party experienced a fall in popularity on recent polls. The Liberals and Conservative Party gained popularity on the polls. As of 11 September 2005, the day before the election, the opinion polls indicated a dead run between the red-green coalition and the right wing.
Advance voting was possible from 10 August to 9 September. 452,488 votes were cast in advance, a decrease of approx 52,000 since the 2001 election.
| Party | Original slogan | English translation | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Party | "Nytt flertall - ny solidaritet" | «New majority - new solidarity» | ||
| Progress Party | ||||
| Christian Democratic Party | "Bruk hjertet. Og hodet. Og stemmen" | «Use the heart. And the head. And your voice» | ||
| Conservative Party | Fortsatt fremgang | «Still progress» | ||
| Centre Party | Med hjerte for hele landet | «With heart for the whole country» | ||
| Socialist Left Party | Ulike mennesker, like muligheter | «Different people, same opportunities» | ||
| Liberal Party | Frihet og fellesskap, løsninger i sentrum | «Freedom and unity, solutions at the centre» | ||
| Red Electoral Alliance | Din sikring mot høyrevind | «Your security against right-wind» | ||
| Sources: [2] [3] | ||||
| 2005 Norwegian general election debates | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Organisers | Present Invitee Non-invitee | ||||||||||
| Ap | Sp | H | Sv | KrF | Frp | V | Rv | Kp | Refs | |||
| 9 September | NRK | P Jens Stoltenberg | P Åslaug Haga | P Erna Solberg | P Kristin Halvorsen | P Kjell Magne Bondevik, Dagfinn Høybråten | P Carl I. Hagen | P Lars Sponheim | P Torstein Dahle | P Roy Waage | [4] | |
| TV 2 | P Jens Stoltenberg | P Åslaug Haga | P Erna Solberg | P Kristin Halvorsen | P Dagfinn Høybråten | P Carl I. Hagen | P Lars Sponheim | P Torstein Dahle | P Roy Waage | [5] | ||
| Cohort | Percentage of cohort voting for | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ap | FrP | H | Sv | KrF | Sp | V | Others | ||
| Total vote | 32.69% | 22.06% | 14.10% | 8.83% | 6.78% | 6.48% | 5.92% | ||
| Gender | |||||||||
| Females | 35.5% | 19.5% | 12.1% | 11.8% | 8.1% | 5.2% | 5.6% | ||
| Males | 30.2% | 24.4% | 15.9% | 6.1% | 5.6% | 7.6% | 6.3% | ||
| Age | |||||||||
| 18–30 years old | 26.7% | 29.5% | 10.9% | 15.9% | 5.8% | 5.4% | 2.3% | ||
| 30-59 years old | 32.9% | 19.8% | 16% | 9.1% | 5.9% | 6.4% | 7% | ||
| 60 years old and older | 36% | 22.7% | 11.4% | 3.5% | 9.6% | 7.4% | 5.4% | ||
| Work | |||||||||
| low income | 37.2% | 24% | 7% | 9.6% | 6.6% | 7.2% | 2.8% | ||
| Average income | 31.1% | 24.2% | 11.8% | 8.4% | 8.8% | 7.3% | 5.7% | ||
| High income | 30.8% | 17.2% | 24.1% | 8.5% | 4% | 4.5% | 9.7% | ||
| Education | |||||||||
| Primary school | 42.2% | 31% | 4.7% | 3.9% | 4.3% | 6.9% | 1.3% | ||
| High school | 32.5% | 27.2% | 11.9% | 6.2% | 8.5% | 7.7% | 3.2% | ||
| University/college | 29.8% | 13.7% | 19.5% | 13.2% | 5.8% | 5% | 10.2% | ||
| Source: Norwegian Institute for Social Research[6] | |||||||||
| Constituency | Total seats | Seats won | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By party | By coalition | ||||||||||
| Ap | FrP | H | SV | KrF | Sp | V | |||||
| Akershus | 16 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 7 | ||
| Aust-Agder | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Buskerud | 9 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | |||
| Finnmark | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| Hedmark | 8 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | |||
| Hordaland | 15 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 6 | |
| Møre og Romsdal | 9 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | |
| Nord-Trøndelag | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |||
| Nordland | 10 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | ||
| Oppland | 7 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | ||||
| Oslo | 17 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 8 | ||
| Østfold | 9 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | |||
| Rogaland | 13 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | |
| Sogn og Fjordane | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| Sør-Trøndelag | 10 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | ||
| Telemark | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | |||||
| Troms | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| Vest-Agder | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 1 | |||
| Vestfold | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ||||
| Total | 169 | 61 | 38 | 23 | 15 | 11 | 11 | 10 | 82 | 87 | |
| align=left colspan="12" | Source: Statistics Norway | ||||||||||