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| Early voting in Svalbard starts July 1
Svalbard residents eligible to vote in Norway's Sept. 14 parliamentary election get a head start on the rest of the country as early ballots will be accepted starting July 1 - but those who wait until election day will find themselves out of luck. Early ballots can be cast until Sept. 4 at the Svalbard governor's office in Longyearbyen, plus locations in Ny-Ålesund, Hopen, Bear Island and trapping stations. They are not being accepted in Svea. The extra time for Svalbard allows the governor's office to send the ballots south. But because residents cast votes for the mainland municipality where they are registered, no voting takes place when the rest of the country goes to the polls Sept. 14. The votes will be tallied according to where residents are registered as of June 30. Advance balloting for the rest of Norway begins Aug. 10. Municipalities are also allowed to have an open-voting day Sept. 13, a Sunday. The parliamentary election selects 169 members for four-year terms. Twenty-four political parties are fielding a total of 3,682 candidates, although only seven of those parties won seats during the 2005 election. Most Norwegians eschew party affiliation, with 9 percent of men and 6 percent of women registered with one in 2004, according to Statistics Norway. In 1980 the totals were 21 percent and 12 percent, respectively. No single party has had a majority since 1961. The Labor Party, led by current Prime Minster Jens Stoltenberg, won the most seats in 2005 with 61. The Labour, Socialist Left and Centre parties formed a majority "Red-Green Coalition" during the election. Voter turnout in the 2005 election was 77.4 percent, the fourth-lowest since World War II. Among other Scandinavian countries, Iceland had 87.7 percent during its past election, Denmark 84.5 percent, Sweden 80.2 per cent and Finland 66.7 percent. |
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