Election note on the 2013 Norwegian election

Abstract

On September 9th, 2013, Norway held a general election to elect a parliament that would sit between 2013 and 2017. At the time of the election Norwaywas lead by a Red-Green coalition government that had been in power since the 2005 parliamentary elections. The parties in the coalition were the Labour Party (AP), the Centre Party (SP) and the Socialist Left Party (SV). In an attempt to avoid another defeat, opposition parties joined forces and, for the first time ever, the Progress Party (FrP) was in a real position to join a governing coalition. All the three other centre-right parties (the Conservatives (H), the Christian Democratic Party (KrF) and the Liberal Party (V)) acknowledged it as a possible partner. This proved to be a good strategy for them as the post-election government consisted of the Conservatives and the Progress Party and with the Liberal Party and the Christian Democratic Party as supporting parties in the parliament.1