1997 Norwegian parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Norway on 14 and 15 September 1997. Prior to the election Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland of the Labour Party had issued the 36.9 ultimatum declaring that the government would step down unless it gained 36.9% of the vote, the percentage gained by the Labour Party in 1993 under Gro Harlem Brundtland. Whilst Labour won a plurality of seats, they were unable to reach Jagland's 36.9% threshold, gaining 35% of the vote.

1997 Norwegian parliamentary election

15 September 1997
All 165 seats in the Storting 83 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Candidate Thorbjørn Jagland Carl I. Hagen Kjell Magne Bondevik Party Labour Progress Christian Democratic Last election 36.91%, 67 seats 6.28%, 10 seats 7.88%, 13 seats Seats won 65 25 25 Seat change 2 15 12 Popular vote 904,362 395,376 353,082 Percentage 35.00% 15.30% 13.66% Swing 1.91pp 9.02pp 5.78pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Jan Petersen Anne Enger Lahnstein Kristin Halvorsen Party Conservative Centre Socialist Left Last election 17.04%, 28 seats 16.74%, 32 seats 7.91%, 13 seats Seats won 23 11 9 Seat change 5 21 4 Popular vote 370,441 204,824 155,307 Percentage 14.34% 7.93% 6.01% Swing 2.69pp 8.81pp 1.90pp   Seventh party Eighth party   Leader Lars Sponheim Steinar Bastesen Party Liberal Non-Partisan Last election 3.61%, 1 seat 0.03%, 0 seats Seats won 6 1 Seat change 5 1 Popular vote 115,077 9,135 Percentage 4.45% 0.36% Swing 0.84pp 0.33pp
Results by county
Prime Minister before election Thorbjørn Jagland Labour Prime Minister after election Kjell Magne Bondevik Christian Democratic

As a result of this, the Labour government stepped down, being replaced by a centrist coalition of the Christian People's Party, Liberal Party and the Centre Party, with Kjell Magne Bondevik being appointed Prime Minister, and confidence and supply support from the Conservative Party and the right-wing Progress Party.

Contesting parties

See also: List of political parties in Norway

Name			Ideology	Position	Leader	1993 result
						Votes (%)	Seats
	Ap	Labour Party Arbeiderpartiet	Social democracy	Centre-left	Thorbjørn Jagland	36.9%	67 / 165
	H	Conservative Party Høyre	Liberal conservatism	Centre-right	Jan Petersen	17.0%	28 / 165
	Sp	Centre Party Senterpartiet	Agrarianism	Centre	Anne Enger Lahnstein	16.7%	32 / 165
	SV	Socialist Left Party Sosialistisk Venstreparti	Democratic socialism	Left-wing	Kristin Halvorsen	7.9%	13 / 165
	KrF	Christian Democratic Party Kristelig Folkeparti	Christian democracy	Centre to centre-right	Kjell Magne Bondevik	7.8%	13 / 165
	FrP	Progress Party Fremskrittspartiet	Conservative liberalism	Right-wing	Carl I. Hagen	6.2%	10 / 165
	V	Liberal Party Venstre	Social liberalism	Centre	Lars Sponheim	3.6%	1 / 165
	R	Red Electoral Alliance Rød Valgallianse	Communism	Far-left	Aslak Sira Myhre	1.0%	1 / 165

Campaign

Slogans

Party		Original slogan	English translation
	Labour Party	«Eldre og helse først!»	«Elderly and health first!»
	Centre Party	«Ja til samholds-Norge, nei til forskjellsNorge»	«Yes to a united Norway, no to a Norway of difference»
	Conservative Party	«Jan Petersen best som sjef/Høyre best for Norge.»	«Jan Petersen (Leader of party) best suited as boss/Conservative best suited for Norway»
	Socialist Left Party
	Christian Democratic Party	«Et varmere samfunn med kristne verdier»	«A warmer society with christian values»
	Progress Party	«Frihet under ansvar. Nei til redusering av forsvaret»	«Freedom under responsibility. No to reducing the army»
	Liberal party
	Red Electoral Alliance
Sources:

Debates

1997 Norwegian general election debates
Date	Organisers	P  Present    I  Invitee  N  Non-invitee
		Ap	H	Sp	Sv	KrF	Frp	V	R	Refs
12 Sep	NRK	P Thorbjørn Jagland, Hill-Marta Solberg	P Jan Petersen	P Anne Enger Lahnstein	P Kristin Halvorsen	P Valgerd Svarstad Haugland	P Carl I. Hagen	P Lars Sponheim	P Aslak Sira Myhre

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Labour Party	904,362	35.00	65	–2
	Progress Party	395,376	15.30	25	+15
	Conservative Party	370,441	14.34	23	–5
	Christian Democratic Party	353,082	13.66	25	+12
	Centre Party	204,824	7.93	11	–21
	Socialist Left Party	155,307	6.01	9	–4
	Liberal Party	115,077	4.45	6	+5
	Red Electoral Alliance	43,252	1.67	0	–1
	Pensioners' Party	16,031	0.62	0	0
	Non-Partisan Deputies	9,195	0.36	1	+1
	Environment Party The Greens	5,884	0.23	0	0
	Fatherland Party	3,805	0.15	0	0
	Natural Law Party	2,207	0.09	0	0
	Communist Party	1,979	0.08	0	0
	Christian Conservative Party	1,386	0.05	0	0
	New Future Coalition Party	491	0.02	0	0
	White Electoral Alliance	463	0.02	0	New
	Justice Party	281	0.01	0	New
	Liberal People's Party	258	0.01	0	0
	Children–Elderly	246	0.01	0	New
	Society Party	214	0.01	0	0
Total		2,584,161	100.00	165	0
Valid votes		2,584,161	99.63
Invalid/blank votes		9,508	0.37
Total votes		2,593,669	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		3,311,190	78.33
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, European Elections Database

Voter demographics

Cohort	Percentage of cohort voting for
	Ap	FrP	H	KrF	Sp	Sv	V	Others
Total vote	35.00%	15.30%	14.34%	13.66%	7.93%	6.01%	4.45%
Gender
Females	34.8%	12.3%	12.4%	17.6%	7.9%	8.1%	4.1%
Males	35.2%	18%	16%	10.2%	8%	4.2%	4.9%
Age
18–30 years old	30.5%	19.4%	11.4%	11.4%	6.2%	9.8%	4.9%
30-59 years old	35.5%	14.4%	16.5%	11.9%	7.9%	6.4%	5%
60 years old and older	37.8%	14.6%	10.9%	20.7%	9.8%	1.1%	2.2%
Work
low income	33.5%	17%	7%	16.4%	9.2%	6.8%	5%
Average income	36%	16.7%	11%	15.2%	9.2%	4.7%	3.8%
High income	35.4%	11.7%	27%	8.2%	4.2%	7.1%	5.2%
Education
Primary school	44.7%	15.3%	5.6%	15.3%	10.6%	2.5%	1.6%
High school	35.9%	17.2%	12.9%	13.8%	8.8%	4.8%	3.9%
University/college	26.3%	9.9%	24.3%	12%	4.1%	11.6%	7.7%
Source: Norwegian Institute for Social Research

Seat distribution

Constituency	Total seats	Seats won
		By party									By coalition
		Ap	FrP	KrF	H	Sp	SV	V	TVF		Borgerlig	Red-green
Akershus	14	5	2	1	3	1	1	1			8	6
Aust-Agder	4	2	1	1							2	2
Buskerud	7	4	1	1	1						3	4
Finnmark	4	2		1			1				1	3
Hedmark	9	4	1	1	1	1	1				4	5
Hordaland	16	5	2	3	2	1	1	2			10	6
Møre og Romsdal	10	3	2	2	1	1		1			7	3
Nord-Trøndelag	6	3	1	1		1					3	3
Nordland	12	5	1	2	1	1	1		1		6	6
Oppland	7	4	1	1		1					3	4
Oslo	17	6	3	1	4		2	1			9	8
Østfold	8	4	2	1	1						4	4
Rogaland	12	3	2	2	2	1	1	1			8	4
Sogn og Fjordane	5	2		1	1	1					3	2
Sør-Trøndelag	10	4	1	1	2	1	1				5	5
Telemark	6	3	1	1	1						3	3
Troms	6	2	1	1	1	1					4	2
Vest-Agder	5	1	1	2	1						4	1
Vestfold	7	3	2	1	1						4	3
Total	165	65	25	25	23	11	9	6	1		91	74
Source: Statistics Norway