Moving election work to Tønsberg

The Government has decided that the responsibility for organising elections in Norway will be moved out of the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation to an election directorate. The election directorate will be located in Tønsberg. “We want to safeguard transparency and independence in election work, so we are moving this responsibility out from a politically run ministry,” says Minister of Local Government and Modernisation Jan Tore Sanner.  

“There is a high level of trust in the election administration in Norway. Now we are facilitating transparency and independence that will keep this level of confidence high in the future,” says Minister of Local Government and Modernisation Jan Tore Sanner.

The central government’s responsibility for holding elections currently rests with the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation, while the municipalities and county authorities are responsible for the practicalities of holding elections. The development of a central election administration system has led to a considerable increase in the Ministry’s tasks and responsibility as regards elections.

The establishment of a dedicated election directorate is in line with an international development towards securing and emphasising the integrity of election work.

“A new election directorate will comprise about 30 – 35 full-time positions, around 20 of which will be permanent positions, and can be co-located with other government activities in Tønsberg,” says Sanner.

The election directorate will be responsible for practical implementation of elections, voter information, training municipality and county authorities, evaluation of elections, as well as operation and administration of the election administration system EVA.

The work on planning the establishment of the election unit will start after the local elections in 2015, and the plan is for the election unit to be in place in time for the 2017 parliamentary (Storting) election to be held in collaboration between the Ministry and the new election unit.


Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation press telephone: +47 22 24 25 00.