Taxus Baccata

Parliamentary elections were held in Norway on 14 and 15 September 1997.^[1] 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.

Contesting parties

Name			Ideology	Position	Leader	1993 result
Name			Ideology	Position	Leader	Votes (%)	Seats
	Ap	Labour Party Arbeiderpartiet	Social democracy	Centre-left	Thorbjørn Jagland	36.9%	67 / 165
	H	Conservative Party Høyre	Liberal conservatism	Centre-right	Jan Petersen	17.0%	28 / 165
	Sp	Centre Party Senterpartiet	Agrarianism	Centre	Anne Enger Lahnstein	16.7%	32 / 165
	SV	Socialist Left Party Sosialistisk Venstreparti	Democratic socialism	Left-wing	Kristin Halvorsen	7.9%	13 / 165
	KrF	Christian Democratic Party Kristelig Folkeparti	Christian democracy	Centre to centre-right	Kjell Magne Bondevik	7.8%	13 / 165
	FrP	Progress Party Fremskrittspartiet	Conservative liberalism	Right-wing	Carl I. Hagen	6.2%	10 / 165
	V	Liberal Party Venstre	Social liberalism	Centre	Lars Sponheim	3.6%	1 / 165
	R	Red Electoral Alliance Rød Valgallianse	Communism	Far-left	Aslak Sira Myhre	1.0%	1 / 165

Campaign

Slogans

Party		Original slogan	English translation
	Labour Party	«Eldre og helse først!»	«Elderly and health first!»
	Centre Party	«Ja til samholds-Norge, nei til forskjellsNorge»	«Yes to a united Norway, no to a Norway of difference»
	Conservative Party	«Jan Petersen best som sjef/Høyre best for Norge.»	«Jan Petersen (Leader of party) best suited as boss/Conservative best suited for Norway»
	Socialist Left Party
	Christian Democratic Party	«Et varmere samfunn med kristne verdier»	«A warmer society with christian values»
	Progress Party	«Frihet under ansvar. Nei til redusering av forsvaret»	«Freedom under responsibility. No to reducing the army»
	Liberal party
	Red Electoral Alliance
Sources: ^[2]^[3]

Debates

1997 Norwegian general election debates
Date	Organisers	P Present I Invitee N Non-invitee
		Ap	H	Sp	Sv	KrF	Frp	V	R	Refs
										Refs
12 Sep	NRK	P Thorbjørn Jagland, Hill-Marta Solberg	P Jan Petersen	P Anne Enger Lahnstein	P Kristin Halvorsen	P Valgerd Svarstad Haugland	P Carl I. Hagen	P Lars Sponheim	P Aslak Sira Myhre	^[4]

Results



Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Labour Party	904,362	35.00	65	–2
	Progress Party	395,376	15.30	25	+15
	Conservative Party	370,441	14.34	23	–5
	Christian Democratic Party	353,082	13.66	25	+12
	Centre Party	204,824	7.93	11	–21
	Socialist Left Party	155,307	6.01	9	–4
	Liberal Party	115,077	4.45	6	+5
	Red Electoral Alliance	43,252	1.67	0	–1
	Pensioners' Party	16,031	0.62	0	0
	Non-Partisan Deputies	9,195	0.36	1	+1
	Environment Party The Greens	5,884	0.23	0	0
	Fatherland Party	3,805	0.15	0	0
	Natural Law Party	2,207	0.09	0	0
	Communist Party	1,979	0.08	0	0
	Christian Conservative Party	1,386	0.05	0	0
	New Future Coalition Party	491	0.02	0	0
	White Electoral Alliance	463	0.02	0	New
	Justice Party	281	0.01	0	New
	Liberal People's Party	258	0.01	0	0
	Children–Elderly	246	0.01	0	New
	Society Party	214	0.01	0	0
Total		2,584,161	100.00	165	0

Valid votes		2,584,161	99.63
Invalid/blank votes		9,508	0.37
Total votes		2,593,669	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		3,311,190	78.33
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, European Elections Database

Voter demographics

Cohort	Percentage of cohort voting for
	Ap	FrP	H	KrF	Sp	Sv	V	Others

Total vote	35.00%	15.30%	14.34%	13.66%	7.93%	6.01%	4.45%
Gender
Females	34.8%	12.3%	12.4%	17.6%	7.9%	8.1%	4.1%
Males	35.2%	18%	16%	10.2%	8%	4.2%	4.9%
Age
18–30 years old	30.5%	19.4%	11.4%	11.4%	6.2%	9.8%	4.9%
30-59 years old	35.5%	14.4%	16.5%	11.9%	7.9%	6.4%	5%
60 years old and older	37.8%	14.6%	10.9%	20.7%	9.8%	1.1%	2.2%
Work
low income	33.5%	17%	7%	16.4%	9.2%	6.8%	5%
Average income	36%	16.7%	11%	15.2%	9.2%	4.7%	3.8%
High income	35.4%	11.7%	27%	8.2%	4.2%	7.1%	5.2%
Education
Primary school	44.7%	15.3%	5.6%	15.3%	10.6%	2.5%	1.6%
High school	35.9%	17.2%	12.9%	13.8%	8.8%	4.8%	3.9%
University/college	26.3%	9.9%	24.3%	12%	4.1%	11.6%	7.7%

Source: Norwegian Institute for Social Research^[5]

Seat distribution

Constituency	Total seats	Seats won
		By party								By coalition
		Ap	FrP	KrF	H	Sp	SV	V	TVF	Borgerlig	Red-green

Akershus	14	5	2	1	3	1	1	1		8	6
Aust-Agder	4	2	1	1						2	2
Buskerud	7	4	1	1	1					3	4
Finnmark	4	2		1			1			1	3
Hedmark	9	4	1	1	1	1	1			4	5
Hordaland	16	5	2	3	2	1	1	2		10	6
Møre og Romsdal	10	3	2	2	1	1		1		7	3
Nord-Trøndelag	6	3	1	1		1				3	3
Nordland	12	5	1	2	1	1	1		1	6	6
Oppland	7	4	1	1		1				3	4
Oslo	17	6	3	1	4		2	1		9	8
Østfold	8	4	2	1	1					4	4
Rogaland	12	3	2	2	2	1	1	1		8	4
Sogn og Fjordane	5	2		1	1	1				3	2
Sør-Trøndelag	10	4	1	1	2	1	1			5	5
Telemark	6	3	1	1	1					3	3
Troms	6	2	1	1	1	1				4	2
Vest-Agder	5	1	1	2	1					4	1
Vestfold	7	3	2	1	1					4	3
Total	165	65	25	25	23	11	9	6	1	91	74
Source: Statistics Norway

References

^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1438 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
^ "Historiske slagord og plakater". Arbeiderpartiet (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-03-19.
^ "Fremtiden, onsdag 10. september 1997". Fremtiden. pp. 20–21.
^ "Partilederdebatt". 15 August 2015.
^ "Kristelig Folkeparti - Valgforskning". Retrieved 16 February 2024.

[NS-1] Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1438 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7

[2] "Historiske slagord og plakater". Arbeiderpartiet (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2024-03-19.

[3] "Fremtiden, onsdag 10. september 1997". Fremtiden. pp. 20–21.

[4] "Partilederdebatt". 15 August 2015.

[5] "Kristelig Folkeparti - Valgforskning". Retrieved 16 February 2024.

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Elections and referendums in Norway
Parliamentary elections	1814 (Constitution) 1814 (Autumn) 1815 1817 1820 1823 1826 1829 1832 1835 1838 1841 1844 1847 1850 1853 1856 1859 1862 1865 1868 1870 1873 1876 1879 1882 1885 1888 1891 1894 1897 1900 1903 1906 1909 1912 1915 1918 1921 1924 1927 1930 1933 1936 1945 1949 1953 1957 1961 1965 1969 1973 1977 1981 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 2025
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Referendums	1905 (Aug) 1905 (Nov) 1919 1926 1972 1994