The constitutional monarch, currently King Harald V, appoints the prime minister, who is the leader of the majority party or coalition in the parliament. While the monarch is officially the head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces, his duties are largely ceremonial. National elections were held in September 2021; the following month, Labour Party leader Jonas Gahr Støre was appointed prime minister after the Labour Party and the Centre Party formed a governing coalition.

Norway’s unicameral parliament, the Storting, has 169 members who are directly elected for four-year terms through a system of proportional representation in multimember districts.

In the September 2021 election, the Labour Party won the largest share of votes, taking 48 seats, followed by the Conservatives with 36 seats, the Centre Party with 28, the right-wing populist Progress Party with 21, the Socialist Left Party with 13, the Red Party with 8, the Liberal Party with 8, the Green Party with 3, the Christian Democratic Party with 3, and the single-issue Patient Focus Party with 1 seat. The election saw a turnout of 77.2 percent.

Local and regional elections in September 2023 left the Conservative Party with 25.9 percent of the vote and the Labour Party with 21.6 percent support, the first time since 1924 that Labour had not been the top vote-getter in local elections. Turnout for the September elections was 62.4 percent.

Elections are regulated by the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act of 2002. The National Electoral Committee, whose members are appointed by the king from all parliamentary parties, oversees the conduct of elections with the support of local-level committees. The 2017 Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) election monitoring mission noted a high degree of public confidence in the country’s electoral infrastructure.

A ballot-distribution error that made it impossible for one party in Moss municipality to receive votes during the 2023 local elections forced a reelection in the municipality.

A range of political parties operate freely in Norway.

Norway has a long history of democratic and peaceful transfers of power after elections. The center-left Labour Party, and center-right coalitions led by the Conservatives or the Christian Democrats, have typically rotated in and out of government. Smaller parties wield influence by participating in national and local coalitions.

Citizens are generally free from undue interference in their political choices, and no military, foreign, or religious entities exert undemocratic pressure on voters. Public funding is the main source of party revenue, though private contributions have increased in recent years, which critics say could allow wealthy donors to acquire undue influence over Norwegian politics.

Women and minority groups enjoy full political rights and electoral opportunities. Following the September 2021 national elections, 50 percent of cabinet positions are held by women, and 45 percent of parliamentarians are women.

The Indigenous Sámi population, in addition to participating in the national political process, has its own independently elected legislature, the Sameting, which has worked to protect the group’s language and cultural rights and to influence the national government’s decisions about Sámi land and resources. The national government has a deputy minister tasked specifically with handling Sámi issues.

The freely elected government and parliament develop and implement policy without undue influence from actors who are not democratically accountable.

Provisions of the penal code criminalizing corrupt activity are generally upheld. There is generally a low risk for corruption across the private and public sectors, including in the judiciary, police, and public services.

However, in 2023, multiple Norwegian politicians—including Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt of the Labour Party, Minister of Research and Higher Education Ola Borten Moe of the Center Party, and the former Conservative Party prime minister Erna Solberg—have faced severe backlash following revelations of their own or their partners’ undisclosed stock trades, resulting in accusations of insider trading. Borten Moe resigned from the government in July and Huitfeldt was removed as foreign minister in an October cabinet reshuffle. In June, Minister of Culture Anette Trettebergstuen resigned amid allegations that she and Education Minister Tonje Brenna had failed to act impartially during the appointment of friends to high-level positions; Brenna remained in office.

In January 2023, the Council of Europe (CoE)’s Group of States against Corruption (GRECO) published a compliance report noting that Norway’s current measures regarding ethics training, financial declaration requirements, and guidance for dealing with conflict of interest at top government levels remain rather limited.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 because a number of prominent officials were implicated in corruption scandals during the year.

The government generally operates with transparency.

Freedom of the press is constitutionally guaranteed and generally respected in practice. Norwegians have access to news and commentary from a wide variety of independent outlets.

Freedom of religion is protected by the constitution and generally upheld in practice. However, religiously motivated hate crimes do occur.

Academic freedom is generally respected.

Private discussion in Norway is free and vibrant. A 2022 government-commissioned report agreed that freedom of expression is well-respected in Norway.

The right to freedom of assembly is generally respected.

A report released by the Norwegian Institution for Human Rights in August 2023 said that the police’s decision to cancel a planned Pride march following a June 2022 shooting outside a gay bar in Oslo amounted to a violation of freedom of assembly for LGBT+ communities.

Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) form and operate without undue restrictions.

The right to strike is legally guaranteed—except for members of the military and senior civil servants—and is generally respected in practice. All workers have the right to engage in collective bargaining. In April 2023, one of Norway’s largest labor unions, the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), and a smaller union, the Confederation of Vocational Unions (YS), initiated a strike affecting almost 25,000 private-sector workers. The strike was quickly resolved following negotiations on pay increases.

The judiciary is generally considered independent, and the court system, headed by the Supreme Court, operates fairly. The king appoints judges on the advice of the Judicial Appointments Board, which is composed of legal and judicial professionals as well as representatives of the public.

The Norwegian Supreme Court ruled in October 2021 that the licenses for two wind farms on the Fosen Peninsula were invalid because the farms violated the human rights of Sámi reindeer herders to practice their own culture. As of the end of 2023, the government had made no move to shut down the wind farms in order to abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling, but had come to an ongoing compensation agreement with one of the two affected reindeer herding communities.

Law enforcement agencies and the courts generally observe legal safeguards against arbitrary arrest and detention. Criminal defendants have access to counsel at the government’s expense, and the principles of due process are typically respected during trial.

The police are under civilian control, and physical abuse by law enforcement is rare. Prison conditions generally meet international standards.

Far-right and extremist violence are both recognized threats in Norway.

Laws, policies, and practices guarantee equal treatment of various segments of the population. The 2022 Oslo Pride shooting pushed the government to create a four-year action plan focused on improving LGBT+ people’s quality of life. A government-commissioned report released in June 2023 concluded officials could have done more to prevent the shooting.

The equality and antidiscrimination ombudsman enforces the Gender Equality Act, the Antidiscrimination Act, and other laws designed to protect the basic rights of women, minorities, and other groups at risk of mistreatment. These laws are generally upheld in practice. However, in a February 2021 report, the CoE recommended that Norwegian authorities put more resources into supporting victims of discrimination, particularly Roma people.

In June 2023, the Commission to Investigate the Norwegianization Policy and Injustice against the Sámi and Kvens/Norwegian Finns released its long-awaited report highlighting the Norwegian government’s harmful historic efforts to assimilate Indigenous peoples and minority populations. The report proposes action steps for the government to take to foster Indigenous cultures and continue to tell the history of the Norwegianization policy.

In 2023, tensions increased significantly between the government and the Indigenous Sámi population. Protests led by Sámi youth took place throughout the year, with the original February protest marking 500 days of government inaction following the Supreme Court’s 2021 ruling that the Fosen peninsula wind developments directly violated Sámi cultural rights.

Sámi protesters forced the closure of 10 government ministries, leading the Norwegian government to apologize to the affected reindeer herders and acknowledge its violation of their human rights. The windmills remained fully operational at the end of 2023, but the government came to an ongoing compensation deal with one of the two affected reindeer herding communities in December.

According to an Amnesty International report released in September 2023, the Fosen case stoked an increase in online stereotyping and prejudiced statements against the Sámi; the report said that between 2019 and mid-2023, one in four Facebook statements regarding Sámi people was negative.

Score Change: The score declined from 4 to 3 because the government has failed to enforce a 2021 Supreme Court ruling that found the construction and operation of wind farms on land used by Indigenous Sámi reindeer herders to be illegal.

Freedom of movement in Norway is generally respected. People can change their place of residence, employment, and education.

The rights to own property and operate private businesses are established in Norwegian law and upheld in practice.

The government generally does not restrict personal social freedoms. The Gender Equality Act provides equal rights for men and women with respect to marriage, divorce, and other personal status matters.

Same-sex marriage has been legal in Norway since 2009. Surrogacy is illegal in the country for both opposite- and same-sex couples.

Domestic violence is an ongoing problem. A 2022 Council of Europe Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO) report noted Norway’s numerous positive legal and policy measures promoting equality, but highlighted some areas where domestic violence services and policies could be improved. It also encouraged Norway to move forward with proposals to enact a consent-based definition of rape.

The government banned the wearing of face coverings, including the niqab and burqa, from teaching environments at all levels of education. The ban did not apply outside classroom settings, for instance during recess or staff meetings.

Legal protections against economic exploitation are generally upheld. The US State Department’s 2023 Trafficking in Persons Report notes that though Norwegian authorities have made significant efforts to fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, they have not yet done so. The report says areas for improvement include the prosecution of labor traffickers and the development of a centralized victim data system.

In July 2022, the Transparency Law went into force, requiring companies to assess their own operations and supply chains’ compliance with human rights obligations. The law is intended to prevent corporations from being complicit in economic exploitation and human rights violations domestically and abroad, and to provide consumers with access to information based on companies’ human rights impact.