Norway General Election 2025

The Eurosceptic Centre party’s departure from the Labour–led coalition was primarily over disagreements with EU energy policy and a call for greater national autonomy. Climate and energy are key issues in this election, with Labour straddling demands mainly from the left for more robust environmental protection, and from the right for more attention to the fiscal consequences for the country’s oil-based economy. Each party has had to address the tension between the economic orthodoxy and the ecological imperative.

Labour, led by prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre, remains the dominant political force, with polls placing it a little over thirty percent approval — a more than four percent improvement on its rating in the 2021 election. This is due in no small measure to the return to national politics of former party leader and prime minister Jens Stoltenberg in February, after a considerable period on the international stage as NATO chief. The hugely popular heavyweight’s position as finance minister suggests to centre-left voters a steady pair of hands in a turbulent world.

By contrast the Conservative Party is in a crisis. In the last election it enjoyed over twenty percent — more than six points higher than its current approval rating. This is mostly because of the populist Progress Party to its right. Under Sylvi Listhaug’s leadership, it has doubled its popularity since 2021 to a remarkable twenty-two percent. With around a fifth of Norway’s residents either immigrants or children of immigrants, the Progress Party’s call for stricter immigration controls is striking a chord with a growing number of voters. The party’s commitment to a low-tax, extremely neo-liberal economy is in tandem with some comparatively illiberal social policies.

Norway is used to coalition governments, and the result of the election on September 8 is likely to lead to another one. It all depends on how much help Labour needs, or rather how much help it would rather do without. The Socialist Left Party, now polling around eight percent, is, like the Marxist Red Party, campaigning strongly on environmental issues, healthcare and the cost of living. It might be a in a good position to extract concessions from Labour in order to join the next government, with or without the  Greens, polling just three percent. Labour, on the other hand, might turn rightwards and offer the rural Centre Party certain compromises on energy in exchange for a coalition comeback.

With so much passionate debate about the massive issues of climate, war and peace, social justice and wealth redistribution swirling around this election, the unswervingly moderate Christian Democratic Party looks far too tepid for the Saviour Himself.

Our chart has been compiled with reference to speeches, manifestos and, where applicable, voting records. Should significant policy changes be announced during the campaign, the chart will be updated accordingly.

We regret that the volume of emails that we’re presently receiving prevents us from replying in most cases. All correspondence, however, is carefully read.