International visitors program – local elections in Norway, September 9, 2019

The program will include:

Sunday September 8:

• a seminar on Norwegian elections and politics at the Ministry, presented by different election experts and researchers. Program (PDF)

Monday September 9:

• organised visits to polling stations
• observing the manual preliminary count that takes place on polling stations Monday night

What's new in the 2019 elections?

• The Ministry has recently adapted new regulations requiring all municipalities to perform the preliminary count of all votes by hand 
• As part of the local government reform, 119 municipalities are merging into 47 municipalities from January 1 2020. In these municipalities, the elections are to be conducted as if the merging already has come into effect. This means that some municipalities have a joint municipal electoral committee, and that several municipalities constitute one municipal electoral district.
• 13 counties are merging into 6 counties from January 1 2020. In these counties, the elections are to be conducted as if the merging already has come into effect. This means that some counties have a joint county electoral committee, and that several counties constitute one county electoral district.

The participants have to arrange their own accommodation and cover their own travel expenses. The Ministry will invite all participants to lunch on Sunday, and arrange transport to polling stations on Monday.

There is also a possibility to arrange bilateral meetings during the program.

For more information or to report your interest in participating in the program, contact senior election adviser Sissel Lian (sissel.lian@kmd.dep.no). The Ministry is responsible for accreditation.

More info:

• Election observation in Norway
• Legal framework
• The Norwegian Directorate of Elections' website in English