In practice, the Norwegian electoral system means that voters only cast votes for party lists. The parties themselves decide which candidates appear on the lists and in what order. In parliamentary elections, voters cannot give additional votes, strike candidates, or add candidates from outside, including from other party lists.
Read more: Parliament declines personal votes for itself but allows them for counties and municipalities
The system already functioned this way to a large extent before the new law was passed. Voters could give additional votes, but in practice this had minimal effect. Instead of following the Election Law Commission’s recommendation to improve the arrangement, the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development chose to remove it entirely. This was later passed by Parliament.
Read more: See Parliament’s treatment of the election law
Through this decision, Parliament took the final step that turned Norway’s electoral system into a closed party-list system. When the public has no direct influence over individual candidates, but only indirect influence through their choice of party list dictated by a political party, this marks a clear downgrade for democracy.
Parliament took the final step that made the Norwegian electoral system a closed party-list system. The outcome is just as disheartening whether the politicians knew what they were doing or not.
It is fair to ask whether the members of Parliament truly understood what they were doing. The answer is depressing, whether it’s “yes” or “no”.
Read more:
Stortinget villeder innbyggerne etter valglovens fjerning av personstemmer
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