Viking Magazine - August 2013 - 17

WHAT'S THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE
PARLIAMENT, THE PRIME MINISTER AND THE KING?
T
he Norwegian
government is a
constitutional monarchy.
In 2014, the country will
celebrate the 200th anniversary
of the Norwegian
constitution's signing at
Eidsvoll. The constitution
grants significant power to
the king on paper, but today
HM King Harald V's
role is highly ceremonial.
Norway generally
promotes egalitarianism,
even while supporting a
monarchy. While the king
has no formal political
power, he meets with the
government every week
in the Council of State,
as well as with the prime
minister and foreign minister.
The king is the head
of the Church of Norway
and the Norwegian
Armed Forces. He travels
throughout Norway and
makes official state visits
to other nations. Perhaps
most important, King
Harald and Queen Sonja
serve as pillars of strength
during national tragedies,
such as the July 2011 terrorist
attacks.
As recently as March of
this year, the parliament
(Stortinget) rejected an
effort to convert the country
from constitutional
monarchy to republic,
with an elected president.
Crown Prince Haakon
most likely will succeed
his father, King Harald,
and the monarchy appears
to remain popular
in Norway.
The parliament adopts
laws, tax levels and
the national budget. It
consists of 169 members
from throughout the
country, and the body's
main functions include
passing new legislation,
amending and repealing
existing legislation,
determining annual state
revenues and expenses
by adopting the budget,
supervising the government
and public administration,
and debating
domestic and foreign
policy issues.
In the general election,
held every four years,
voters elect 150 of these
members from the 19
counties. The remaining
19 members are dubbed
" leveling mandates, "
where each county has an
additional seat. The seats
are assigned to even out
discrepancies between the
number of votes received
and the number of seats
in parliament. Norwegian
voters cast their ballots for
the parties, not individual
politicians. All members
of parliament are elected
by political party listing.
Party leaders usually
become government ministers,
even prime minister,
if their party wins government
power.
Prime Minister Jens
Stoltenberg is considered
the head of state, but the
coalition government
retains the central authority.
The prime minister is
responsible for coordinating
and leading the work
of the government, setting
policies through the
cabinet and parliament
leadership. The prime
minister also participates
in international summits,
and he communicates
with other nations'
leaders and organizations
such as the United
Nations on economics,
human rights and environmental
issues.
L
ike other parliamentary
democracies in Europe, Norway's
government depends on a party
coalition to function. To create a viable
government, the political parties form
coalitions to obtain a majority in the
parliament (Stortinget). If the parties
can't achieve a majority, they try to
minimize the risk of being overthrown
by the parliament.
Thanks to the large number of
political parties, it's unlikely that any
single party in Norway can gain more
than 50 percent of the vote and have
its own majority in parliament.
The government's current, leftcenter
coalition is comprised of Labor,
the Socialist Left and the Center Party,
running important ministries after
the latter two won just 6 percent of
the vote in the 2009 national election.
Socialist Left and the Center Party have
even less support now, often below
5 percent, according to recent public
opinion polls.
Election analysts predict several
main alternatives if the left-center
coalition loses in the September
9 contest and non-socialists
win: a coalition made up of the
Conservatives (Høyre), Christian
Democrats (Kristelig Folkeparti) and
the Liberal Party (Venstre); a coalition
of just Conservatives and the Progress
Party (Fremskrittspartiet); or the
Conservatives on their own.
-O.H.
Looking for more Norwegian election resources? Check out these helpful websites:
newsinenglish.no A great source of Norwegian political, government and election news, all in English
stortinget.no/en/In-English/ Background and updates on Stortinget, Norwegian parliament, in English
valg.no The official government site for election news and information, in Norwegian.
sonsofnorway.com VIKING AUGUST 2013 17

http://www.newsinenglish.no http://www.stortinget.no/en/In-English/ http://www.valg.no http://www.sonsofnorway.com

Viking Magazine - August 2013

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