Article 25

Elections

218. A new Act relating to Election to the Storting, County Councils and Municipal Councils (the Election Act) was adopted on 28 June 2002, with detailed provisions regarding the right to vote, eligibility, the duty to accept election, registration of political parties, the distribution of mandates according to the number of votes received by each party and the practical execution of elections. The new Act does not entail any significant changes regarding central democratic rights such as the right to vote or the right to be elected to office. The accounts given in the previous reports still give an adequate overview of the law relating to these matters. Nevertheless, some central provisions of the new Act regarding the right to vote are outlined in the following.

219. Section 1-1 of the Election Act reads:
“The purpose of this Act is to establish such conditions that citizens shall be able to elect their representatives to the Storting, county councils and municipal councils by means of a secret ballot in free and direct elections.”

220. Any Norwegian national who has attained the age of 18 by the end of the year in which the election is held, has not been disenfranchised pursuant to Article 53 of the Constitution, and has at some time been registered in the Population Register as being resident in Norway, is entitled to vote in parliamentary elections (cf. section 2-1 of the Act).

221. Any person who is entitled to vote in parliamentary elections is also entitled to vote in local government elections. Furthermore, persons who are not Norwegian nationals, but otherwise satisfy the conditions mentioned in the previous paragraph, are entitled to vote in local government elections if they were been registered in the Population Register as being resident in Norway for the last three years prior to Election Day, or are nationals of another Nordic country and were registered in the Population Register no later than 31 May of the year of the election.