Norwegian local elections of 2019: A vende seg mot forskjell
Norway held its most recent local elections yesterday, on the basis of 11 new enlarged regions (fylkeskommuner) following a pattern administrative reform similar to that seen in many other European countries, continuing the rather unfortunate trend of downsizing local government and enlarging rural counties mainly for administrative convenience, despite Norway having one of the lowest population densities in Europe. Only the Norwegian capital city of Oslo and the surrounding new region of Viken (formed from Akershus, Buskerud and Ostfold) have a population density greater than 50 people per square kilometre in Norway; by contrast, only a small minority of districts in the UK, mainly in Scotland, have population densities lower than 50 people per square kilometre.
Both the Norwegian Labour and Conservative Parties (Arbeiderpartiet and Hoyre) lost out badly in these local elections, with Norwegian Labour's vote decreasing by 8.2% and the Norwegian Conservatives experiencing a 3.1% vote share decrease. This meant Labour conceded first place in Oslo to the Conservatives-the only region they finished first in- even though both parties fared worst in terms of vote share loss in the Norwegian capital, and the Conservatives were pushed into third place in More og Romsdal and Nordland by the agrarian Centre Party, which came close to achieving pole position in both regions. The impact of the local government reforms and current Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg's desire for closer relations to China were the most significant factors behind the Centre Party's good performance. The Centre Party came third overall with 14.4%, easily overtaking the right-wing populist Progress Party which is part of Erna's government.
The Norwegian Greens (Miljopartiet) made good progress as well increasing their vote share to 6.8%, although their best result by far was in Oslo with 15.2%. They increased their vote share everywhere else as well but comparatively struggled outside of Oslo. Increased awareness of how important combatting man made climate change is helping Green Parties everywhere and Norway is no exception, although Norway's announced environmental initiatives are particularly bold and forthright by European standards meaning that there has been less of a surge for green politics outside metropolitan areas, unlike in Britain whose environmental efforts are still poor by European standards and threatened further still by the prospect of a biased trade deal with the USA in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
The radical socialist Red Party (Rodt) somewhat underperformed despite almost doubling its vote share from 2015, due to the recovery of the less radical Socialist Left Party; also the Red Party's vote share actually fell in the northernmost region, Troms og Finnmark, and rose only slightly with the exception of Oslo. Both the Christian Democrats and Liberals continued to decline, with the Christian Democrats' natural base in inexorable decline like in the rest of Western and Northern Europe and the splinter group the Christians (much more conservative than the Christian Democrats) taking votes from them to the point where they won a regional seat in Norway's regions. Meanwhile the Norwegian Liberals (Venstre) have been struggling since their split over EEC membership (Norway never joined the EEC and is not part of the EU) in 1972 and their participation in government has undoubtedly lost them a few votes.
Turnout increased sharply to 64,7%, the highest in Norwegian local elections since 1991, undoubtedly due to a rise in support for newer and more politically distinct parties in Norway. The Greens in particular set themselves apart from the traditional blue and red blocs in Norway, and rightly so.
Both the Norwegian Labour and Conservative Parties (Arbeiderpartiet and Hoyre) lost out badly in these local elections, with Norwegian Labour's vote decreasing by 8.2% and the Norwegian Conservatives experiencing a 3.1% vote share decrease. This meant Labour conceded first place in Oslo to the Conservatives-the only region they finished first in- even though both parties fared worst in terms of vote share loss in the Norwegian capital, and the Conservatives were pushed into third place in More og Romsdal and Nordland by the agrarian Centre Party, which came close to achieving pole position in both regions. The impact of the local government reforms and current Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg's desire for closer relations to China were the most significant factors behind the Centre Party's good performance. The Centre Party came third overall with 14.4%, easily overtaking the right-wing populist Progress Party which is part of Erna's government.
The Norwegian Greens (Miljopartiet) made good progress as well increasing their vote share to 6.8%, although their best result by far was in Oslo with 15.2%. They increased their vote share everywhere else as well but comparatively struggled outside of Oslo. Increased awareness of how important combatting man made climate change is helping Green Parties everywhere and Norway is no exception, although Norway's announced environmental initiatives are particularly bold and forthright by European standards meaning that there has been less of a surge for green politics outside metropolitan areas, unlike in Britain whose environmental efforts are still poor by European standards and threatened further still by the prospect of a biased trade deal with the USA in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
The radical socialist Red Party (Rodt) somewhat underperformed despite almost doubling its vote share from 2015, due to the recovery of the less radical Socialist Left Party; also the Red Party's vote share actually fell in the northernmost region, Troms og Finnmark, and rose only slightly with the exception of Oslo. Both the Christian Democrats and Liberals continued to decline, with the Christian Democrats' natural base in inexorable decline like in the rest of Western and Northern Europe and the splinter group the Christians (much more conservative than the Christian Democrats) taking votes from them to the point where they won a regional seat in Norway's regions. Meanwhile the Norwegian Liberals (Venstre) have been struggling since their split over EEC membership (Norway never joined the EEC and is not part of the EU) in 1972 and their participation in government has undoubtedly lost them a few votes.
Turnout increased sharply to 64,7%, the highest in Norwegian local elections since 1991, undoubtedly due to a rise in support for newer and more politically distinct parties in Norway. The Greens in particular set themselves apart from the traditional blue and red blocs in Norway, and rightly so.
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