valgkretser

Valgkretser, or valgdistrikt, are geographic units used to organize elections and determine how representatives are chosen for a legislative body. They function as the primary building blocks in the electoral process, shaping where voters live within which districts votes are counted and how seats are distributed.

In Norway, valgdistrikt are the constituencies used in national elections to the Storting, the country’s parliament. They typically align with administrative regions such as counties, and their exact boundaries and the number of seats assigned to each district are defined by law and coordinated by the Directorate of Elections. The arrangement of districts can change in response to population shifts and administrative reforms.

Voters in each valgdistrikt participate in general elections by casting a party vote and, in many cases, a personal vote for individual candidates. The seats awarded to each district feed into a national proportional representation process that uses a combination of district seats and leveling seats to achieve overall proportionality between votes and seats across the country. The distribution at the district level interacts with nationwide adjustments to ensure that the final composition of the legislature reflects the voters’ preferences as accurately as possible.

Boundaries and seat allocations are periodically reviewed to reflect demographic changes and reforms in public administration. The concept of valgkretser is central to Norway’s electoral system and to how geographic representation translates into legislative power.