Norwegian Parliamentary Election 2013

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Big story here in Germany as well, and used as obvious contrast to our political leaders.

What do you Norwegians think will be the implications? Will it boost the AP votes, and if so, to where?

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So far only really Venstre out in force with election posters. Trying to enter people's memories nice and early, I guess.



"We focus on education" with a picture of party leader Trine Skei Grande.

Have they always used green as their colour, or is that new?

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This, of course, ignores the fact that there are actually quite a few people who can't tell the difference between left and right.

*Insert obvious Stupid Norwegians joke here*  

Mind to share some of these jokes with us?

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Once there was a blind Norwegian, a deaf Dane and a wheelchair bound Swede who came upon a magic cavern. They were granted one wish each when they entered the cavern. First the blind Norwegian entered. He wished to see again. When he came out, he said
-   I can see.

Then the deaf Dane went into the cave. He wanted to be able to hear. When he returned, he said
-   I can hear.

Then the wheelchair bound Swede rolled into the cave to make a wish. When he came out he said
-   Look mates, I’ve got two new wheels. (Titta kompisar, två nya hjul.)

A Swede, a Dane and a Norwegian was stranded together at a deserted island in the Pacific. After several months on the island the three's hope of ever being rescued was declining, until one day they came upon a magic lamp containing a genie. As the genie was freed he granted the three Scandinavians a wish wach.
The Swede asked to be returned to his family, and disappeared. The Dane asked for the same thing, and also disappeared.
The Norwegian looked around and said "Well I'm gonna get awfully lonely out here so I wish for the Swede and the Dane to come back."       

That one is even better in the post-USSR version - a Georgian, an Estonian and a Russian getting stranded, and the Russian finally saying "I wish my friends were back with me.."

Anyway - forgive my trolling attempt, let's get back to Norwegian politics...

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Is my understanding correct that handelsgymnasium (Oslo, 62.5% Hoyre) is similar to the German "Wirtschaftsgymnasium", i.e. having a special curriculum focusing on accounting and finance? And the "Oslo By Steinerskole" (31.1% MDG) is probably named after antroposopher  Rudolf Steiner, and following Waldorf pedagogy, right? The "kristne" in "Framnes kristne vidaregåande skule (56.8% CDP) is easy to understand even for a foreigner. So, no surprises here.

As to the other schools, somebody minding to explain some patterns...

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If I am not mistaken, the election is tomorrow. How about a bit of preliminary information such as

- Poll opening and closure
- When will the first projections be available? How precise are they typically?
- Around which time can we expect to have fairly stable results?
- Websites where live results will be reported
- Regions/ constituencies to look out for (bellweathers etc.)

Thanks in advance.

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Getting rid of the asbestos could take a while.

Not necessarily. It is typically the ceiling panels holding it, which can be replaced rather easily and fast. If it is in the wall insulation (for fire protection reasons), however, it might become a nightmare.

In any case, considering when they found out that asbestos can cause cancer, the school must be at least 30 years old, and is probably pretty energy inefficient. Might be cheaper to tear it down and rebuild it...

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Plus the classical green-leftish (SV, MDG, R) inner city. The older Liberals (V) have started to settle down in the western suburbs, which are otherwise firmly in Hoyre hands (of course, as all over north-western Europe, the wind blows mostly from the west, so that is where the air is better).

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I assume the workers/immigrants live mostly in that North-East peninsula-looking part of the city ? Where also the FrP is strongest ?

And the upper middle class people in the SW part of Oslo ?

Yes, primarily. Though there is a big exception to the regular west/east split - the district of Nordstrand which is considered "the West side of Oslo East" (Østkantens vestkant), which is an upper-middle class area dominated by Høyre.

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Let me guess - Nordstrand is demographically a bit older than the western suburbs, that's why pockets pf Krd support could still survive there.
I further assume that the oldest suburb is the one on the western bay shore, which is starting to turn over (traditional Hoyre voters gradually dying away, and being replaced by younger V & MdG voters).

Now, if somebody could point out to us where the University is located (my guess is to the west of the inner city, in that district where S & MdG are strongest), we have almost solved all the mysteries of these wonderful maps...  

B.t.w, Sibboleth, you don't feel like doing swing maps as well, don't you?

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As for the oldest suburb on the western bay shore - are you referring to this borough, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordre_Aker ?
Most of the University is located in that district/borough as well, in the more urban part of it.

I was actually referring to Frogner, though Nordre Aker is even making more sense result-wise. Frogner should probably display quite an internal East-West split, with the East being more urban (green-leftish) and the West quite suburban (Hoyre).

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As for the oldest suburb on the western bay shore - are you referring to this borough, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordre_Aker ?
Most of the University is located in that district/borough as well, in the more urban part of it.

I was actually referring to Frogner, though Nordre Aker is even making more sense result-wise. Frogner should probably display quite an internal East-West split, with the East being more urban (green-leftish) and the West quite suburban (Hoyre).

To a certain extent yes, because east Frogner is home to many students. But at the same time, the eastern half is known for being packed with "old money", which means that difference is evened out a bit.

I could imagine east Frogner being a bit similar to this place (the English article is a bit crappy, if you understand German, try out that version, plus this article).

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I can't speak for SV, but the Nordic Centre Parties has always been on the forefront when it comes to female politicians. There are several reasons for that, which I unfortunately can't go into much detail about, but too make a long story short women in the Scandinavian country side has always had a stronger position tan those living in towns and cities.

I could imagine that strong female position having long historical roots, maybe dating back to the times when men were away all summer for ..eh.. business.. on foreign shores. Frisia is similar in these respects, and you also find such a pattern in the Cossack areas of Ukraine and Southern Russia (the Cossacks were free of serfdom and had the right for local self-administration, in exchange for military service for the Tsar, which often kept away men all summer from their villages).

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Sorry to interfere, but it seems that territorial reorganisation is an issue of general interest.

The thread below has evolved into some kind of discussion on federalisation, but also county/community merger in Spain:
https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=176903.25

I have done a bit on the proposed Sachsen-Anhalt county reform in the German Elections thread, and intend to post more (proposed Brandenburg county merger, German discussion on state mergers) after the German election.

How about a general "European Territorial Reform" thread, to get an overview on discussions in various countries. If yes, where should it be placed- "International General Discussions", or "Political Geography" (the latter fits better, but a Europe-related thread might get lost in all the US gerrymandering threads there)?

P.S: This isn't meant to stop you from discussing the Norwegian fykker here. There is always the possibility to copy some posts form one into another thread...

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Though the importance of communes - except in urban areas where they're basically like any other local authority - is greatly exaggerated.

That should differ from country to country. The German constitution attributes specific functions and rights to three territorial layers -Federation, state, and commune. Counties, OTOH, are constitutionally nothing more than an association of communes. In Germany. most basic service provision (schools, utilities, road infrastructure, etc. ), as well as tax collection and spatial planning is resting with the communes. I don't know about the Scandinavian situation, but I suppose it to be similar to Germany due to common Germanic traditions of local self-rule (thing, etc.).

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In Norway, municipalities are responsible for "primary education (until 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, unemployment and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads."

So more or less correct, Franknburger. The counties are responsible for larger roads (the national government dumped a bunch of national roads in their heads a few years ago), public transport, high schools and dental care.

Thanks for reminding me on basic social protection/ care and unemployment, which is also resting with the German communes. Part of the flaws with implementing the Hartz IV social protection reforms here relates to the fact that all unemployment-related activities were  originally meant to be concentrated with the Federal Labour Agency, which the Constitutional Court ruled to be a violation of communal rights. As a result, a number of models for Labour Agency / commune, or Labour Agency / county (as association of communes) cooperation evolved, which resulted in reform implementation being anything but homogenous....
Public transport is mostly resting with the states, which are typically delegating part of it to the counties, with the exception of school buses (communes, as part of their responsibility for schooling in general). As to roads, there are of course federal and state roads, as well as county roads, in addition to municipal roads.
Health rests with the states here, but is mostly delegated to the counties. However, government responsibility is restricted to ensure basic health service provision (typically one public hospital per county). Otherwise, health, and especially dental service provision is in private hands, subjected to federal health sector regulation.

But yeah, while implementation details differ, the basic approach to municipal responsibilities seems to be quite similar in Germany and Norway.