Bernt Aardal and Jørgen Bølstad: The Electoral System: Representing Voters and Territory, chapter 6 in Kolltveit, K. Allern, Elin H. Braut-Hegghammer, M. and Rasch, B. E. (eds): The Oxford Handbook of Norwegian Politics, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2025.
Abstract:
The electoral system is a key part of any representative democracy. This chapter starts with an overview of the historical development of the Norwegian electoral system, discussing how competing principles and interests have shaped the system over time. While the system has steadily grown more proportional, it also entails features that are intended to curb excessive fragmentation of the party system by making it harder for small parties to win parliamentary seats. Perhaps the most peculiar part of the Norwegian electoral system is its deliberate over-representation of sparsely populated areas—by allocating seats partly based on the geographical size of the electoral districts. The final part of this chapter discusses the electoral system and its consequences in a comparative perspective, examining how the degree of disproportionality and the effective number of parties have developed in Norway compared to other European countries.
