Valglister

Valglister are lists of candidates submitted by political parties or electoral groups for elections conducted under proportional representation. The lists specify the order of candidates who may receive seats if the party wins votes, and the exact ordering can influence which individuals are elected.

In Norway, valglister are used for municipal, county, and parliamentary elections. The Norwegian system is open-list, meaning voters can vote for a party as a whole or cast a preference vote for a specific candidate on a party’s list. The final allocation of seats follows a proportional method, typically the Sainte-Laguë method, but the individual candidates who are elected within a party are determined by the voters’ preference votes. If a candidate with strong personal support moves ahead on a party’s list, they may be allocated a seat even if they appear lower on the printed order.

Parties prepare valglister for each electoral district, and the lists may be amended before elections. After votes are counted, seats won by each party are distributed, and candidates are chosen in order of preference votes, subject to the number of seats the party receives. Local and regional considerations often influence the composition of lists, including candidate selection processes, primaries, and internal party decisions.

The purpose of valglister is to balance party strength with individual accountability and local representation. They are governed by national election law and regulations, with oversight by electoral authorities. While Norway emphasizes open lists, other countries use a spectrum from closed to fully open lists, reflecting different balances between party control and voter influence in candidate selection.