2001 Norwegian parliamentary election

← 1997 9–10 September 2001 2005 →
All 165 seats in the Storting 83 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Thorbjørn Jagland Jan Petersen Carl I. Hagen Party Labour Conservative Progress Last election 35.00%, 65 seats 14.34%, 23 seats 15.30%, 25 seats Seats won 43 38 26 Seat change 22 15 1 Popular vote 612,632 534,852 369,236 Percentage 24.29% 21.21% 14.64% Swing 10.71 pp 6.87 pp 0.66 pp   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Kristin Halvorsen Kjell Magne Bondevik Odd Roger Enoksen Party Socialist Left Christian Democratic Centre Last election 6.01%, 9 seats 13.66%, 25 seats 7.93%, 11 seats Seats won 23 22 10 Seat change 14 3 1 Popular vote 316,397 312,839 140,287 Percentage 12.55% 12.41% 5.56% Swing 6.54 pp 1.25 pp 2.37 pp   Seventh party Eighth party   Leader Lars Sponheim Steinar Bastesen Party Liberal Coastal Last election 4.45%, 6 seats – Seats won 2 1 Seat change 4 New Popular vote 98,486 44,010 Percentage 3.91% 1.75% Swing 0.54 pp New
Results by county
Prime Minister before election Jens Stoltenberg Labour Prime Minister after election Kjell Magne Bondevik Christian Democratic

Parliamentary elections were held in Norway on 9 and 10 September 2001.^[1] The governing Labour Party lost seats and their vote share was the worst they had ever obtained in a post-war election. Although they still won a plurality of votes and seats, they were unable to form a government. Instead, a centre-right coalition of the Conservative Party, the Christian Democratic Party and Liberal Party was formed, led by Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik of the Christian Democratic Party, with confidence and supply support from the Progress Party.

Campaign

Political parties

Opinion polls

Polls are indicated by share of votes in percentage, or by seats indicated by brackets. The Progress Party saw the most surprising changes in support, having achieved as high as 34.7% in September 2000, and in 2001 almost closing down to 10% at the lowest. The Labour Party and Conservative Party also varied greatly in support in the years before the election.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats	+/–
	Labour Party	612,632	24.29	43	–22
	Conservative Party	534,852	21.21	38	+15
	Progress Party	369,236	14.64	26	+1
	Socialist Left Party	316,397	12.55	23	+14
	Christian Democratic Party	312,839	12.41	22	–3
	Centre Party	140,287	5.56	10	–1
	Liberal Party	98,486	3.91	2	–4
	Coastal Party	44,010	1.75	1	New
	Red Electoral Alliance	30,015	1.19	0	0
	The Political Party	19,457	0.77	0	New
	Pensioners' Party	17,940	0.71	0	0
	Christian Unity Party	6,742	0.27	0	New
	Environment Party The Greens	3,785	0.15	0	0
	Fatherland Party	2,353	0.09	0	0
	Communist Party	1,726	0.07	0	0
	Norwegian People's Party	1,609	0.06	0	New
	Non-Partisan Coastal and Rural District Party	1,052	0.04	0	0
	Social Democrats	351	0.01	0	New
	Natural Law Party	269	0.01	0	0
	Liberal People's Party	166	0.01	0	0
	Other parties and county lists	7,616	0.30	0	New
Total		2,521,820	100.00	165	0
Valid votes		2,521,820	99.45
Invalid/blank votes		13,956	0.55
Total votes		2,535,776	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		3,359,433	75.48
Source: Nohlen & Stöver, European Elections Database

Seat distribution