1997 Norwegian parliamentary election
First party
Second party
Third party
Leader
Thorbjørn Jagland
Carl I. Hagen
Valgerd Svarstad Haugland [1]
Party
Labour
Progress
Christian Democratic
Last election
67 seats, 36.9%
10 seats, 6.3%
13 seats, 7.9%
Seats won
65
25
25
Seat change
2
15
12
Popular vote
904,362
395,376
353,082
Percentage
35.0%
15.3%
13.7%
Swing
1.9 pp
9.0 pp
5.8 pp
Fourth party
Fifth party
Sixth party
Leader
Jan Petersen
Anne Enger Lahnstein
Erik Solheim
Party
Conservative
Centre
Socialist Left
Last election
28 seats, 17.0%
32 seats, 16.7%
13 seats, 7.9%
Seats won
23
11
9
Seat change
5
21
4
Popular vote
370,441
204,824
155,307
Percentage
14.3%
7.9%
6.0%
Swing
2.7 pp
8.8 pp
1.9 pp
Seventh party
Leader
Lars Sponheim
Party
Liberal
Last election
1 seat, 3.6%
Seats won
6
Seat change
5
Popular vote
115,077
Percentage
4.5%
Swing
0.9 pp
Parliamentary elections were held in Norway on 14 and 15 September 1997.[2] 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.
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 .
Results [ ]
Party
Votes
%
Seats
+/–
Labour Party
904,362
35.0
65
–2
Progress Party
395,376
15.3
25
+15
Conservative Party
370,441
14.3
23
–5
Christian People's Party
353,082
13.7
25
+12
Centre Party
204,824
7.9
11
–21
Socialist Left Party
155,307
6.0
9
–4
Liberal Party
115,077
4.5
6
+5
Red Electoral Alliance
43,252
1.7
0
–1
Pensioners' Party
16,031
0.6
0
0
Non-Partisan Deputies
9,195
0.4
1
+1
Environment Party The Greens
5,884
0.2
0
0
Fatherland Party
3,805
0.2
0
0
Natural Law Party
2,207
0.1
0
0
Communist Party
1,979
0.1
0
0
Christian Conservative Party
1,386
0.1
0
0
New Future Coalition Party
491
0.0
0
0
White Electoral Alliance
463
0.0
0
New
Justice Party
281
0.0
0
New
Liberal People's Party
258
0.0
0
0
Children-Elderly
246
0.0
0
New
Society Party
214
0.0
0
0
Invalid/blank votes
9,508
–
–
–
Total
2,593,669
100
165
0
Registered voters/turnout
3,311,190
78.3
–
–
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, European Elections Database
References [ ]
^ Kjell Magne Bondevik was the party's candidate for the office of Prime Minister
^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook , p1438 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7