Comments on: The Norwegian General Election 2013

By: Alicia Webster

Alicia Webster — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 10:23:48 +0000

When I lived in Mexico (from 1987 to 1991), not only was alcohol not available for purchase in the shops, but you could not buy any alcohol in the bars from midnight to midnight on election day. It was always amusing to watch the tourists (who apparently went to Mexico expressly for the purpose of drinking) pitch an absolute hissy fit when the bars and shops refused to sell them anything.

By: Simon

Simon — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 06:50:37 +0000

Great summary David. Personally I found the Norwegian election to be very underwhelming. It seemed to pass off so clinically and without drama. The TV coverage was restrained to the point that you could hardly notice it between constant repeats of Big Bang Theory and How I Met Your Mother. Where were the personal insults? The political heavies getting stuck into eachother, the endless spin and soundbytes? The wall to wall newspaper comment mainly about other newspaper comment? Door to door canvassers desperate for a doorstep debate? I missed all of this.

I do applaud the ability to vote before polling day though – that is a nice touch and probably helps turnout (expensive though – many of my norwegian colleague bemoan how many people are employed to man the boothes. Easy money for students). The banning of alcohol sales is completely daft though – you can bet your last kroner that the political parties have ample bottles of champagne on ice ready for election night. Bought the day before obvisouly.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 06:25:57 +0000

Great article. Thanks for explaining this. All I’ve seen in the UK papers are articles about how Brevik was once a member of the Progress Party.

By: Alex Birkett

Alex Birkett — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 05:36:13 +0000

Good article. I would argue there is a party for every form of collectivism. For example, the center party wants the country run for the benefit of farmers, the progress party for pensioners etc. None of the 7 have significant disagreements on the role of state, none are liberal.

By: Ken Nikel

Ken Nikel — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 18:51:20 +0000

very interesting observations david, politics in the uk needs to rebuild honesty and respect which has been lost over the last few years at an accelerating rate.

By: David Nikel

David Nikel — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 11:45:58 +0000

In reply to Sadie. I agree, Jens Stoltenberg was fantastic post-Utøya and he is generally liked and respected over here, I've seen very little negativity towards him despite the drop in vote. I'll try to do a follow-up post once the coalition is agreed.

By: Sadie

Sadie — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 11:40:39 +0000

Proper election results with numbers! Thank you very much David.
Papers over here have commented on the position of Progress and a switch to sort-of right wing. The detail is so much more interesting and complicated. It will be fascinating to see what coalition is put together.
I was impressed by the way the outgoing Administration handled the events after Utoya. It sounded very civilised and sensible from over here. Would other Parties have done the ‘this is a criminal trial, we will observe the courtesies.’?