| Election Name: | 2015 Norwegian local elections |
| Country: | Norway |
| Type: | local |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 2011 Norwegian local elections |
| Previous Year: | 2011 |
| Next Year: | 2019 |
| Election Date: | 14 September 2015 |
| Turnout: | 59.7% |
| Leader1: | Jonas Gahr Støre |
| Party1: | Labour Party (Norway) |
| Leaders Seat1: | Oslo |
| Last Election1: | 31.7% |
| Popular Vote1: | 785,799 |
| Percentage1: | 33% |
| Swing1: | 1.3 pp |
| Leader2: | Erna Solberg |
| Party2: | Conservative Party (Norway) |
| Leaders Seat2: | Hordaland |
| Last Election2: | 28.0% |
| Popular Vote2: | 552,334 |
| Percentage2: | 23.2% |
| Swing2: | 4.8 pp |
| Leader3: | Siv Jensen |
| Party3: | Progress Party (Norway) |
| Leaders Seat3: | Oslo |
| Last Election3: | 11.4 % |
| Popular Vote3: | 225,438 |
| Percentage3: | 9.5% |
| Swing3: | 1.9 pp |
| Leader4: | Trygve Slagsvold Vedum |
| Party4: | Centre Party (Norway) |
| Leaders Seat4: | Hedmark |
| Last Election4: | 6.7% |
| Popular Vote4: | 202,238 |
| Percentage4: | 8.5% |
| Swing4: | 1.8 pp |
| Leader5: | Trine Skei Grande |
| Leaders Seat5: | Oslo |
| Party5: | Liberal Party of Norway |
| Last Election5: | 6.3% |
| Popular Vote5: | 131,078 |
| Percentage5: | 5.5% |
| Swing5: | 0.8 pp |
| Leader6: | Knut Arild Hareide |
| Party6: | Christian Democratic Party (Norway) |
| Leaders Seat6: | Hedmark |
| Last Election6: | 5.6% |
| Popular Vote6: | 129,551 |
| Percentage6: | 5.4% |
| Swing6: | 0.2 pp |
| Leader7: | Rasmus Hansson Hilde Opoku |
| Party7: | Green Party (Norway) |
| Last Election7: | 0.9% |
| Popular Vote7: | 100,955 |
| Percentage7: | 4.2% |
| Swing7: | 3.3 pp |
| Leader8: | Audun Lysbakken |
| Party8: | Socialist Left Party (Norway) |
| Leaders Seat8: | Hordaland |
| Last Election8: | 4.3% |
| Popular Vote8: | 97,933 |
| Percentage8: | 4.1% |
| Swing8: | 0.2 pp |
| Leader9: | Bjørnar Moxnes |
| Party9: | Red Party (Norway) |
| Last Election9: | 1.5% |
| Popular Vote9: | 46,689 |
| Percentage9: | 2.0% |
| Swing9: | 0.5 pp |
Local elections were held in Norway on 14 September 2015. Voters elected representatives to municipal and county councils, which are responsible for education, public transport, health, and elderly care, and for the levy of certain taxes. The Labour Party became the largest party, gaining 33% of the vote, while the nationally governing Conservative and Progress parties suffered losses relative to their performances in the 2013 parliamentary and 2011 local elections.[1]
Term of office was 1 January 2016 until 31 December 2019.
The results meant that the Conservatives were set to lose control of Norway's two most populous cities, Oslo and Bergen.[2]
In Tromsø the Red Party garnered a record 14.4% of the votes. They formed a majority along with the Labour Party and the Socialist Left Party, and chose to phase out the local parliamentary system.[3]
| 2015 Norwegian local elections debates | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Time | Organisers | Present Invitee Non-invitee | |||||||||
| Ap | H | Frp | Sp | KrF | V | SV | MDG | Refs | ||||
| ??? | TV2 | P Jonas Gahr Støre | P Erna Solberg | N Siv Jensen | N Trygve Slagsvold Vedum | N Knut Arild Hareide | N Trine Skei Grande | N Audun Lysbakken | N Rasmus Hansson | [4] [5] | ||
| ??? | TV2 | P Jonas Gahr Støre | P Erna Solberg | P Siv Jensen | P Trygve Slagsvold Vedum | P Knut Arild Hareide | P Trine Skei Grande | P Audun Lysbakken | P Rasmus Hansson | [6] | ||
| Party | Vote | Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Won | +/− | |||
| Labour Party (Ap) | 789,170 | 33.0 | 1.3 | 3,459 | 81 | ||
| Conservative Party (H) | 554,399 | 23.2 | 4.8 | 1,954 | 394 | ||
| Progress Party (Frp) | 226,640 | 9.5 | 1.9 | 890 | 253 | ||
| Centre Party (Sp) | 203,188 | 8.5 | 1.8 | 1,774 | 354 | ||
| Liberal Party (V) | 131,836 | 5.5 | 0.8 | 545 | 95 | ||
| Christian Democratic Party (KrF) | 130,268 | 5.4 | 0.1 | 623 | 30 | ||
| Green Party (MDG) | 101,612 | 4.2 | 3.3 | 231 | 213 | ||
| Socialist Left Party (SV) | 98,625 | 4.1 | 0.1 | 359 | 3 | ||
| Red Party (R) | 47,102 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 80 | 23 | ||
| Pensioners' Party (Pp) | 18,569 | 0.8 | ±0.0 | 44 | 6 | ||
| Others | 1,139 | 3.8 | 0.1 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Total | 5,431,850 | 100.00 | ±0.0 | 300 | ±0 | ||
| Votes cast / turnout | 5,566,295 | 59.9 | 3.7 | ||||
| Abstentions | 4,274,230 | 40.1 | 3.7 | ||||
| Source: VG | |||||||
| Party | Vote | Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±pp | Won | +/− | |||
| Labour Party (Ap) | 741,976 | 33.6 | 0.4 | 277 | 4 | ||
| Conservative Party (H) | 517,318 | 23.4 | 4.2 | 167 | 43 | ||
| Progress Party (Frp) | 226,986 | 10.3 | 1.5 | 83 | 13 | ||
| Centre Party (Sp) | 176,252 | 8.0 | 1.7 | 80 | 19 | ||
| Christian Democratic Party (KrF) | 123,075 | 5.6 | 0.2 | 46 | 1 | ||
| Green Party (MDG) | 111,168 | 5.0 | 3.7 | 36 | 34 | ||
| Liberal Party (V) | 109,556 | 5.0 | 0.7 | 39 | 7 | ||
| Socialist Left Party (SV) | 88,944 | 4.0 | 0.3 | 28 | 6 | ||
| Red Party (R) | 47,561 | 2.2 | 0.4 | 10 | 3 | ||
| Pensioners' Party (Pp) | 20,185 | 0.9 | ±0.0 | 3 | ±0 | ||
| Others | 1,139 | 2.0 | 0.6 | 0 | ±0 | ||
| Total | 5,431,850 | 100.00 | ±0.0 | 300 | ±0 | ||
| Votes cast / turnout | 5,566,295 | 55.8 | 3.4 | ||||
| Abstentions | 4,274,230 | 44.2 | 3.4 | ||||
| Source: VG | |||||||
According to Statistisk sentralbyrå, a total of 50.02 million NOK in campaign contributions was raised by all political parties in 2015.[8]
| Party | Donations (NOK) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Party | 28,572,534 | ||
| Conservative Party | 11,195,928 | ||
| Socialist Left Party | 2,833,907 | ||
| Progress Party | 2,435,250 | ||
| Centre Party | 2,317,364 | ||
| Liberal Party | 1,399,438 | ||
| Green Party | 897,625 | ||
| Red Party | 341,309 | ||
| Christian Democratic Party | 34,000 | ||