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The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on
party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be u ...
in nineteen multi-seat constituencies. A member of Stortinget is known in Norwegian as a ''stortingsrepresentant'', literally "Storting representative". The assembly is led by a president and, since 2009, five vice presidents: the presidium. The members are allocated to twelve standing committees as well as four procedural committees. Three ombudsmen are directly subordinate to parliament: the Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee and the Office of the Auditor General. Parliamentarianism was established in 1884, with the Storting operating a form of "qualified unicameralism", in which it divided its membership into two internal chambers making Norway a de facto bicameral parliament, the Lagting and the Odelsting. Following a constitutional amendment in 2007, this was abolished, taking effect following the 2009 election. Following the 2021 election, ten parties are represented in parliament: the Labour Party (48), the
Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...
(36), the Centre Party (28), the Progress Party (21), the Socialist Left Party (13), the Red Party (8), the Liberal Party (8), the Christian Democratic Party (3), the
Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...
(3), and the Patient Focus Party (1). Since 2021,
Masud Gharahkhani Masud Gharahkhani ( fa, مسعود قره‌خانی; born 22 September 1982) is a Norwegian politician who has served as the President of the Storting since 2021, and as an Member of the Storting for Buskerud since 2017 for the Labour Party. E ...
has been President of the Storting.


History

The parliament in its present form was first constituted at
Eidsvoll Eidsvoll (; sometimes written as ''Eidsvold'') is a municipality in Akershus in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the Romerike traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Sundet. General information ...
in 1814, although its origins can be traced back to the allting, as early as the 9th century, a type of '' thing'', or common assembly of free men in Germanic societies that would gather at a place called a thingstead and were presided over by lawspeakers. The alltings were where legal and political matters were discussed. These gradually were formalised so that the things grew into regional meetings and acquired backing and authority from the Crown, even to the extent that on occasions they were instrumental in effecting change in the monarchy itself. As oral laws became codified and Norway unified as a geopolitical entity in the 10th century, the lagtings ("law things") were established as superior regional assemblies. During the mid-13th century, the by then archaic regional assemblies, the Frostating, the Gulating, the Eidsivating and the Borgarting, were amalgamated and the corpus of law was set down under the command of King
Magnus Lagabøte Magnus Haakonsson ( non, Magnús Hákonarson, no, Magnus Håkonsson, label=Modern Norwegian; 1 (or 3) May 1238 – 9 May 1280) was King of Norway (as Magnus VI) from 1263 to 1280 (junior king from 1257). One of his greatest achievements was the m ...
. This jurisdiction remained significant until King Frederick III proclaimed absolute monarchy in 1660; this was ratified by the passage of the King Act of 1665, and this became the constitution of the Union of Denmark and Norway and remained so until 1814 and the foundation of the Storting. The
Parliament of Norway Building The Storting building ( no, Stortingsbygningen) is the seat of the Storting, the parliament of Norway. The building is located at 22 Karl Johans gate in central Oslo, Norway. It was taken into use on 5 March 1866 and was designed by the Swedish ...
opened in 1866.


World War II

On 27 June 1940 the presidium signed an appeal to King Haakon, seeking his abdication. (The presidium then consisted of the presidents and vice-presidents of parliament,
Odelstinget The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years base ...
and Lagtinget. Ivar Lykke stepped in (according to mandate) in place of the president in exile,
C. J. Hambro Carl Joachim Hambro (5 January 1885 – 15 December 1964) was a Norwegian journalist, author and leading politician representing the Conservative Party. A ten-term member of the Parliament of Norway, Hambro served as President of the Parliament ...
; Lykke was one f the sixwho signed.) In September 1940 the representatives were summoned to Oslo, and voted in favour of the results of the negotiations between the presidium and the authorities of the German invaders. (92 voted for, and 53 voted against.) However, directives from Adolf Hitler resulted in the obstruction of "the agreement of cooperation between parliament and heoccupation force".


Qualified unicameralism (1814–2009)

The Storting has always been ''de jure'' unicameral, but before a constitutional amendment in 2009 it was de facto bicameral. After an election, the Storting would elect a quarter of its membership to form the Lagting, a sort of "upper house" or revising chamber, with the remaining three-quarters forming the Odelsting or "lower house".''A Europe of Rights: The Impact of the ECHR on National Legal Systems''
, Helen Keller, Alec Stone Sweet,
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print book ...
, 2008, page 210
The division was also used on very rare occasions in cases of impeachment. The original idea in 1814 was probably to have the Lagting act as an actual upper house, and the senior and more experienced members of the Storting were placed there. Later, however, the composition of the Lagting closely followed that of the Odelsting, so that there was very little that differentiated them, and the passage of a bill in the Lagting was mostly a formality. Bills were submitted by the Government to the Odelsting or by a member of the Odelsting; members of the Lagting were not permitted to propose legislation by themselves. A standing committee, with members from both the Odelsting and Lagting, would then consider the bill, and in some cases hearings were held. If passed by the Odelsting, the bill would be sent to the Lagting for review or revision. Most bills were passed unamended by the Lagting and then sent directly to the king for royal assent. If the Lagting amended the Odelsting's draft, the bill would be sent back to the Odelsting. If the Odelsting approved the Lagting's amendments, the bill would be signed into law by the King. ''Norway and the Norwegians''
Robert Gordon Latham, Richard Bentley, 1840, page 89
If it did not, then the bill would return to the Lagting. If the Lagting still proposed amendments, the bill would be submitted to a plenary session of the Storting. To be passed, the bill required the approval of a two-thirds majority of the plenary session. In all other cases a simple majority would suffice. Three days had to pass between each time a chamber voted on a bill. In all other cases, such as taxes and appropriations, the Storting would meet in plenary session. A proposal to amend the constitution and abolish the Odelsting and Lagting was introduced in 2004 and was passed by the Storting on 20 February 2007 (159–1 with nine absentees). It took effect with the newly elected Storting in 2009.


Number of seats

The number of seats in the Storting has varied over the years. In 1882 there were 114 seats, increasing to 117 in 1903, 123 in 1906, 126 in 1918, 150 in 1921, 155 in 1973, 157 in 1985, 165 in 1989, and 169 as of 2005.


Procedure


Legislative

The legislative procedure goes through five stages. First, a bill is introduced to parliament either by a member of government or, in the case of a private member's bill, by any individual representative. Parliament will refer the bill to the relevant standing committee, where it will be subjected to detailed consideration in the committee stage. The first reading takes place when parliament debates the recommendation from the committee, and then takes a vote. If the bill is dismissed, the procedure ends. The second reading takes place at least three days after the first reading, in which parliament debates the bill again. A new vote is taken, and if successful, the bill is submitted to the King in Council for royal assent. If parliament comes to a different conclusion during the second reading, a third reading will be held at least three days later, repeating the debate and vote, and may adopt the amendments from the second reading or finally dismiss the bill.


Royal assent

Once the bill has reached the King in Council, the bill must be signed by the monarch and countersigned by the
prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
. It then becomes Norwegian law from the date stated in the Act or decided by the government. Articles 77–79 of the Norwegian constitution specifically grant the King of Norway the right to withhold Royal Assent from any bill passed by the Storting.The Norwegian Constitution
. The Storting information office. Retrieved on 12 April 2007.
This right has never been exercised by any Norwegian monarch since the
dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905 The dissolution of the union ( nb, unionsoppløsningen; nn, unionsoppløysinga; Landsmål: ''unionsuppløysingi''; sv, unionsupplösningen) between the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden under the House of Bernadotte, was set in motion by a resol ...
(though it was exercised by
Swedish monarchs This is a list of Swedish kings, queens, regents and viceroys of the Kalmar Union. History The earliest record of what is generally considered to be a Swedish king appears in Tacitus' work '' Germania'', c. 100 AD (the king of the Suiones). ...
before then when they ruled Norway). Should the king ever choose to exercise this privilege, Article 79 provides a means by which his veto may be overridden if the Storting passes the same bill after a general election: "If a Bill has been passed unaltered by two sessions of the Storting, constituted after two separate successive elections and separated from each other by at least two intervening sessions of the Storting, without a divergent Bill having been passed by any Storting in the period between the first and last adoption, and it is then submitted to the King with a petition that His Majesty shall not refuse his assent to a Bill which, after the most mature deliberation, the Storting considers to be beneficial, it shall become law even if the Royal Assent is not accorded before the Storting goes into recess."


Organisation


Presidium

The presidium is chaired by the President of the Storting, consisting of the president and five vice presidents of the Storting. The system with five vice presidents was implemented in 2009. Before this there was a single holder of the office.


Standing committees

The members of parliament are allocated into twelve standing committees, of which eleven are related to specific political topics. The last is the
Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs The Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs ( no, Kontroll- og konstitusjonskomiteen) is a standing committee of the Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of No ...
. The standing committees have a portfolio that covers that of one or more
government ministers A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ‘prime minister’, ...
.


Other committees

There are four other committees, that run parallel to the standing committees. The
Enlarged Committee on Foreign Affairs The Enlarged Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence is a special committee of the Parliament of Norway. It holds non-disclosed discussions with the government regarding important issues of foreign affairs, trade policy and security issues. Other i ...
consists of members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence, the presidium, and the parliamentary leaders. The committee discusses important issues related to foreign affairs, trade policy, and national safety with the government. Discussions are confidential. The European Committee consists of the members of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence and the parliamentary delegation to the European Economic Area (EEA) and the European Free Trade Area (EFTA). The committee conducts discussions with the government regarding directives from the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
. The Election Committee consists of 37 members, and is responsible for internal elections within the parliament, as well as delegating and negotiating party and representative allocation within the presidium, standing committees, and other committees. The
Preparatory Credentials Committee The Preparatory Credentials Committee ( no, Stortingets fullmaktskomité) is a special committee of the Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the ...
has 16 members and is responsible for approving the election.


Appointed agencies

Five public agencies are appointed by parliament rather than by the government. The Office of the Auditor General is the auditor of all branches of the public administration and is responsible for auditing, monitoring and advising all state economic activities. The
Parliamentary Ombudsman Parliamentary Ombudsman ( fi, Eduskunnan oikeusasiamies, sv, Riksdagens ombudsman, is, Umboðsmaður Alþingis, da, Folketingets Ombudsmand, no, Sivilombudet) is the name of the principal ombudsman institutions in Finland, Iceland, Denmark, ...
is an ombudsman responsible for public administration. It can investigate any public matter that has not been processed by an elected body, the courts, or within the military. The Ombudsman for the Armed Forces is an ombudsman responsible for the military. The Ombudsman for Civilian National Servicemen is responsible for people serving civilian national service. The Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee is a seven-member body responsible for supervising public intelligence, surveillance, and security services. Parliament also appoints the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee that award the
Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolo ...
.


Administration

Parliament has an administration of about 450 people, led by Director of the Storting
Marianne Andreassen Marianne van den Houten Andreassen (born 1 August 1961) is a Norwegian economist and civil servant, who served as the managing director of the Storting from 2018 to 2022. Biography Born in Harstad, Andreassen graduated as an economist from the Uni ...
, who assumed office in 2018. She also acts as secretary for the presidium.


Party groups

Each party represented in parliament has a party group. It is led by a board and chaired by a parliamentary leader. It is customary for the party leader to also act as parliamentary leader, but since party leaders of government parties normally sit as ministers, governing parties elect other representatives as their parliamentary leaders. The table reflects the results of the September 2017 election.


Elections

Members to Stortinget are elected based on
party-list proportional representation Party-list proportional representation (list-PR) is a subset of proportional representation electoral systems in which multiple candidates are elected (e.g., elections to parliament) through their position on an electoral list. They can also be u ...
in plural member constituencies. This means that representatives from different political parties are elected from each constituency. The constituencies are identical to the 19 former
counties of Norway Norway is divided into 11  administrative regions, called counties (singular no, fylke, plural nb, fylker; nn, fylke from Old Norse: ''fylki'' from the word "folk", sme, fylka, sma, fylhke, smj, fylkka, fkv, fylkki) which until 191 ...
. Although county mergers have brought the number of counties down to 11, the 10 constituencies are unchanged. The electorate does not vote for individuals but rather for party lists, with a ranked list of candidates nominated by the party. This means that the person on top of the list will get the seat unless the voter alters the ballot. Parties may nominate candidates from outside their own constituency, and even Norwegian citizens currently living abroad. The Sainte-Laguë method is used for allocating parliamentary seats to parties. As a result, the percentage of representatives is roughly equal to the nationwide percentage of votes. Still, a party with a high number of votes in only one constituency can win a seat there even if the nationwide percentage is low. This has happened several times in Norwegian history. Conversely, if a party's initial representation in Stortinget is proportionally less than its share of votes, the party may seat more representatives through leveling seats, provided that the nationwide percentage is above the election threshold, currently at 4%. In 2009, nineteen seats were allocated via the leveling system. Elections are held each four years (in odd-numbered years occurring after a year evenly divisible by four), normally on the second Monday of September. Unlike most other parliaments, the Storting always serves its full four-year term; the Constitution does not allow snap elections. Substitutes for each deputy are elected at the same time as each election, so by-elections are rare. Norway switched its parliamentary elections from single-member districts decided by two-round run-offs to multi-member districts with proportional representation in 1919.


Members

The parliament has 169 members. If a member of parliament cannot serve (for instance because he or she is a member of the cabinet), a deputy representative serves instead. The deputy is the candidate from the same party who was listed on the ballot immediately behind the candidates who were elected in the last election. In the
plenary chamber A debate chamber is a room for people to discuss and debate. Debate chambers are used in governmental and educational bodies, such as a parliament, congress, city council, or a university, either for formal proceedings or for informal discour ...
, the seats are laid out in a hemicycle. Seats for cabinet members in attendance are provided on the first row, behind them the members of parliament are seated according to county, not party group. Viewed from the president's chair, Aust-Agder's representatives are seated near the front, furthest to the left, while the last members (Østfold) are seated furthest to the right and at the back.


1980s–present

*
List of members of the Parliament of Norway, 1981–1985 List of all Storting, members of the Storting in period 1981 to 1985. The list includes all those initially elected to Storting. There were a total of 155 representatives, distributed among the parties: 65 (66 after the runoff) to Norwegian Labo ...
* List of members of the Parliament of Norway, 1985–1989 *
List of members of the Parliament of Norway, 1989–1993 List of all members of Stortinget in the period 1989 to 1993. The list includes all who were elected to Stortinget. There were a total of 165 representatives, distributed among 63 to the Norwegian Labour Party, 37 to Conservative Party, 22 to ...
*
List of members of the Parliament of Norway, 1993–1997 List of all members of Stortinget in the period 1993 to 1997. The list includes all who were elected. There were a total of 165 representatives, distributed among 67 to the Norwegian Labour Party, 32 to Centre Party, 28 to Conservative Party, ...
*
List of members of the Parliament of Norway, 1997–2001 List of all members of Stortinget (the Norwegian Parliament) in the period 1997 to 2001. The list includes all those elected to Stortinget. There were a total of 165 representatives, distributed among 65 to Norwegian Labour Party, 25 to Christi ...
*
List of members of the Parliament of Norway, 2001–2005 This is a list of the members of ''Stortinget'', the Norwegian parliament, in the period 2001 to 2005. The members ( no, stortingsrepresentanter) were elected in the Norwegian parliamentary election of 10 September 2001. The parliament convened ...
*
List of members of the Parliament of Norway, 2005–2009 Between 19 October 2005 and 30 September 2009, the Parliament of Norway consisted of 169 members from 7 parties and 19 constituencies, elected during the 2005 Norwegian parliamentary election on 11 and 12 September. The Red-Green Coalition, con ...
*
List of members of the Parliament of Norway, 2009–2013 Between 1 October 2009 and 30 September 2013, the Parliament of Norway consisted of 169 members from 7 parties and 19 constituencies, elected during the 2009 Norwegian parliamentary election on 13 and 14 September. The Red-Green Coalition, consi ...
* List of members of the Parliament of Norway, 2013–2017 * List of members of the Parliament of Norway, 2017–2021 *
List of members of the Parliament of Norway, 2021–2025 The current Storting was elected at the 2021 Norwegian parliamentary election. As of 17 October 2021. Members * Anette Trettebergstuen (Part of Labour Party, Minister of Culture and Equality) * Jonas Gahr Støre (Part of Labour Party, Pr ...


Code of conduct

Unparliamentary language Parliaments and legislative bodies around the world impose certain rules and standards during debates. Tradition has evolved that there are words or phrases that are deemed inappropriate for use in the legislature whilst it is in session. In a ...
includes: one-night stand, smoke screen government, pure nonsense, Molbo politics, may God forbid, lie, and "''som fanden leser Bibelen''".


Building

Since 5 March 1866, parliament has met in the Parliament of Norway Building at Karl Johans gate 22 in Oslo. The building was designed by the Swedish architect
Emil Victor Langlet Emil Victor Langlet (26 February 1824 – 10 March 1898) was a Swedish architect. He is most commonly associated with his design for the Norwegian Parliament Building in Oslo, Norway. Background Langlet was born in Borås, Sweden. He was educa ...
and is built in yellow brick with details and basement in light gray granite. It is a combination of several styles, including inspirations from France and Italy. Parliament do also include offices and meeting rooms in the nearby buildings, since the Parliament building is too small to hold all the current staff of the legislature. The buildings in Akersgata 18, Prinsens Gate 26, Akersgata 21, Tollbugata 31 and Nedre Vollgate 18 also contains parliamentary staff and members of Parliament.


See also

* List of presidents of the Storting


References


External links

* * (in English)
Ekspert om opplysningsplikten: Slik er reglene for hva statsråder må fortelle i Stortinget
xpert about ''opplysningsplikten'' (or obligation to disclose): Such are the rules for ministers, in regard to what (they) must tell Stortinget(20 November 2020) Dagsavisen {{Coord, 59, 54, 47, N, 10, 44, 24, E, type:landmark, display=title 1814 establishments in Norway Organizations established in 1814
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...