Parliamentary elections were held in Norway on 8 September 2025 to elect all 169 members of the Storting, the Norwegian parliament, for the 2025–2029 parliamentary term. Advance voting took place from 11 August to 5 September.
The election resulted in incumbent Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre's Labour Party winning the most seats. The opposition Conservative Party, led by former Prime Minister Erna Solberg, fell to third place for the first time since 2009. The right-wing populist Progress Party gained seats in the Storting and ended up with 47 seats, the highest seat count in the party's history; this made it the largest opposition party for the term. It also marked the highest voter turn-out since 1989.
The red-green bloc won a majority with 88 seats, allowing Støre to continue as Prime Minister in his minority government. The victory came after years of poor opinion polling, after which the Labour Party made a political comeback. Issues in the election included taxes, immigration, foreign relations, healthcare, and rising inequality.
Background Government formation
In the 2021 Norwegian parliamentary election, the Labour Party emerged victorious, defeating the Conservative Party of Erna Solberg. After the elections, Jonas Gahr Støre, the leader of the Labour Party, started talks about the formation of a new government with the Centre Party and Socialist Left Party. The Socialist Left Party backed down from negotiations due to disagreements over environmental and welfare policies. The Labour Party and the Centre Party then negotiated on forming a minority government, which was officialised in October 2021. Støre was sworn in as the prime minister of Norway on 14 October 2021. Throughout the existence of his cabinet, however, they relied on support from the Socialist Left Party.
Ministerial resignations Since 2021, Støre's government saw changes due to resignations of several ministers. Hadia Tajik, the minister of labour and social inclusion, was the first to resign in March 2022 due to alleged tax fraud from 2006. She was succeeded as minister by Marte Mjøs Persen. A month later, Odd Roger Enoksen resigned as minister of defence after sexual harassment allegations. He was succeeded by Bjørn Arild Gram.
In June 2023, Nettavisen reported that minister Anette Trettebergstuen was involved in a cronyist case by appointing colleagues to the board of Norsk Tipping. Aftenposten also reported that she had also nominated a close colleague to the board of the Oslo Opera House. Trettebergstuen resigned as minister later that month and was succeeded by Lubna Jaffery. A month later, Ola Borten Moe resigned as minister, while Anniken Huitfeldt was dismissed in an October 2023 government reshuffle. In January 2024, the Sandra Borch and Ingvild Kjerkol plagiarism affair occurred, which led to the resignation of ministers Sandra Borch and Ingvild Kjerkol.
Collapse of governing coalition In January 2025, the Centre Party left the governing coalition over disagreements with the Labour Party on energy policy relating to the European Union, resulting in the first one-party government in 25 years. Eight cabinet ministers from the Centre Party were replaced, including Centre Party leader and minister of finance Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, who was succeeded by former Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.
Stoltenberg's return has been credited with the Labour Party's resurgence in the polls, dubbed the "Jens effect" or the "Stoltenberg effect". Within days of his return, nicknamed the "Stoltenback", the Labour Party had gained 10 points in the polls. The Centre Party's exit from government has also been credited, with journalist arguing that it made the Labour Party more recognisable to its former voters.
Electoral system The election was held using party-list proportional representation in 19 multi-member constituencies based on the pre-2018 counties of Norway. The number of members to be returned from each constituency varies between 4 and 20. To determine the apportionment of the 169 seats amongst the 19 counties, a two-tier formula is used, based on population and geographic size. Each inhabitant counts one point, while each square kilometer counts 1.8 points. Each constituency is guaranteed 4 seats.
150 of the seats (all but one in each constituency) are constituency seats. These are awarded based on the election results in each county, and are unaffected by results in other counties. Nineteen of the seats (one for each county) are levelling seats, awarded to parties above 4% of the national vote. A modification of the Sainte-Lague method, where the first quotient for each party is calculated using a divisor of 1.4 instead of 1, is used to allocate both the constituency and leveling seats. A party must cross the electoral threshold of 4% of the national vote in order to win levelling seats but may still win constituency seats even if it fails to reach this threshold. If a party wins more constituency seats than it is entitled to seats overall based on its national vote share, those additional seats are kept, with the number of seats won by other parties being reduced. The system for apportioning seats to constituencies is biased in favour of rural areas since the area of the county is a factor, but the system of compensation seats reduces the effect this has on the number of seats won by each party.
+ Seats by constituency Constituency Population(as of 1.1.2024) Area (km2)(as of 1.1.2024) Seats Change since 2021 Østfold 312,152 4,004 9 Akershus 728,803 5,895 20 1 Oslo 717,710 454 20 Hedmark 202,048 27,398 7 Oppland 174,256 24,675 6 Buskerud 269,819 14,694 8 Vestfold 256,432 2,168 7 Telemark 177,093 15,298 6 Aust-Agder 122,968 9,155 4 Vest-Agder 196,882 7,278 6 Rogaland 499,417 9,377 14 Hordaland 541,875 15,438 16 Sogn og Fjordane 109,424 18,433 4 Møre og Romsdal 270,624 14,356 8 Sør-Trøndelag 347,516 20,258 10 Nord-Trøndelag 135,440 21,945 5 Nordland 243,081 38,155 9 Troms 169,610 26,189 6 Finnmark 75,053 48,638 4 1
Political parties
The table below lists political parties elected to the Storting in the 2021 parliamentary election. Name Ideology Position Leader 2021 result Votes (%) Seats Ap Labour Party Social democracy Centre-left Jonas Gahr Støre 26.3% H Conservative Party Liberal conservatism Centre-right Erna Solberg 20.4% Sp Centre Party Agrarianism Centre Trygve Slagsvold Vedum 13.5% FrP Progress Party Right-wing populism Right-wing to far-right Sylvi Listhaug 11.6% SV Socialist Left Party Socialism Left-wing Kirsti Bergstø 7.6% R Red Party Marxism Left-wing to far-left Marie Sneve Martinussen 4.7% V Liberal Party Liberalism Centre Guri Melby 4.6% MDG Green Party Green politics Centre-left Arild Hermstad 3.9% KrF Christian Democratic Party Christian democracy Centre-right Dag Inge Ulstein 3.8% PF Patient Focus Single-issue politics(health politics) Irene Ojala 0.2% Source: Norwegian Directorate of Elections The table below shows the extraparliamentary parties contesting the 2025 election. Name Ideology Position Leader 2021 result ND Norway Democrats National conservatism Far-right Geir Ugland Jacobsen 1.1% PP Pensioners' Party Single-issue politics(pensioners' interests) Kurt Johhny Hæggernes 0.6% K Conservative Christian rightRussophilia Far-right Erik Selle 0.4% INP Industry and Business Party Populism Right-wing Ann Jorun Hillersøy 0.3% S Partiet Sentrum Centrism Centre to centre-left Geir Lippestad 0.3% VIP Single-issue politics(health policy) Erik Hexeberg 0.2% NKP Communist Party of Norway Communism Far-left Runa Evensen 0.0% GP Generation Party Direct democracy Gyda Oddekalv 0.0% DNI Climate scepticism Owe I. Waltherzøe New party FOR Peace and Justice Russophilia Marielle Leraand New partyENS Single-issue politics (suicide prevention) Else Kåss Furuseth New partyRUS Single-issue politics(health politics) Lene Sundfær Haug Did not contest Source: Norwegian Directorate of Elections Of the parties listed above, four only each contested a single constituency: Patient Focus in Finnmark, the Communist Party in Vest-Agder, and both the Loneliness Party and Save Ullevål Hospital in Oslo.
Campaign The incumbent government consists of the Labour Party (Ap) of Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, which has governed the country as a minority government since the previous election in 2021, first in coalition with the Centre Party (Sp) from 2021 until January 2025, and subsequently as a single-party government. Støre ran for re-election in 2025, and was supported by a bloc made up of the five so-called red-green parties, which aside from the Labour and Centre parties also include the Socialist Left (SV), Red (R), and Green (MDG) parties. Together, these five parties obtained 100 of the Storting's 169 seats at the previous election. The red-green bloc was challenged in the 2025 election by four centrist-to-right-wing parties, namely former prime minister Erna Solberg's Conservative Party (H), the Progress Party (FrP), the Liberal Party (V), and the Christian Democratic Party (KrF). Both Solberg and FrP leader Sylvi Listhaug were discussed as possible contenders for the premiership in the event of an election victory for the right-wing bloc. Leftist parties promised to end funding for Israeli companies by the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund due to the Gaza war.
Slogans Party Original slogan English translation Labour PartySafety for the future Conservative PartyNo slogans. Only solutions. Centre PartyAll of Norway Progress PartyFor most people Socialist Left PartyFor the manynot for the fewRed PartyBecause community worksLiberal PartyThink new for Norway Green PartyIt IS possibleChristian Democratic PartyBuilding on valuescreating values
Debates +2025 Norwegian general election debates Date Time Organisers Present Surrogate Non-invitee ApHSpFrPSVRVMDGKrFRefs 14:40 NRKPJonas Gahr StøreNNPSylvi ListhaugNNNNN 21:15 NRKPJonas Gahr StøreNNPSylvi ListhaugNNNNN 21:15 NRKPJonas Gahr StørePErna SolbergPTrygve Slagsvold VedumPSylvi ListhaugPKirsti BergstøPMarie Sneve MartinussenSSveinung RotevatnSIngrid LilandPDag-Inge Ulstein 21:15 NRKPJonas Gahr StørePErna SolbergNPSylvi ListhaugNSSofie MarhaugNNN 19:30 Ap and FrPPJonas Gahr StøreNNPSylvi ListhaugNNNNN 21:15 NRKPJonas Gahr StørePErna SolbergPTrygve Slagsvold VedumPSylvi ListhaugPKirsti BergstøPMarie Sneve MartinussenPGuri MelbyPArild HermstadPDag-Inge Ulstein 21:15 NRKPJonas Gahr StørePErna SolbergNPSylvi ListhaugNNNNN 20:00 NRKPJonas Gahr StørePErna SolbergPTrygve Slagsvold VedumPSylvi ListhaugPKirsti BergstøPMarie Sneve MartinussenPGuri MelbyPArild HermstadPDag-Inge Ulstein 19:30 AftenbladetPJonas Gahr StøreNNPSylvi ListhaugNNNNN
Opinion polls
Results
The Labour Party, led by Jonas Gahr Støre, won 53 seats with 28.0% of the vote, securing a lead for the red-green bloc. In the opposition, the centre-right Conservative Party, led by Erna Solberg, received 14.6% of votes, marking the party's worst election result since 2005. The right-wing populist Progress Party became the largest opposition party, with Sylvi Listhaug as its leader, receiving 23.8% of votes.
Voter demographics