page_title: Politics of Norway
section_title: Legislative branch
hierarchical_section_title: Politics of Norway / Legislative branch
caption_attribution_description: Norsk bokmål: Stortingbygningen English: norwegian parliament in Oslo
context_page_description: The politics of Norway take place in the framework of a parliamentary, representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the Council of State, the cabinet, led by the Prime Minister of Norway. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the legislature, the Storting, elected within a multi-party system. The judiciary is independent of the executive branch and the legislature.
  The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Norway a "full democracy" in 2019. Reporters Without Borders ranked Norway 1st in the world in the 2019 Press Freedom Index. Freedom House's 2020 Freedom in the World report classified Norway as "free," scoring maximum points in the categories of "political rights" and "civil liberties".
  On March 19, 2020, the Norwegian parliament voted to give the enormous emergency powers to the government. While this is in effect, the government can change any law except for the constitution and human rights legislation. These emergency powers are due to expire in December 2020. During this period Norway is operating with a partially combined executive and legislative branch.
context_section_description: Norway has a unicameral Parliament, the Storting ("Great Council"), with members elected by popular vote for a four-year term (during which it may not be dissolved) by proportional representation in multi-member constituencies. Voting rights are granted in the year a person turns 18.
  The Storting currently has 169 members (increased from 165, effective from the elections of 12 September 2005). The members are elected from the 19 counties for 4-year terms according to a system of proportional representation. Until 2009, the Storting divided itself into two chambers, the Odelsting and the Lagting for the sole purpose of voting on legislation. Laws were proposed by the government through a Member of the Council of State or by a member of the Odelsting and decided on by the Odelsting and Lagting, in case of repeated disagreement by the joint Storting. In practice, the Lagting rarely disagreed and mainly just rubber-stamped the Odelsting's decision. In February 2007, the Storting passed a constitutional amendment to repeal the division, which abolished the Lagting for the 2009 general election, thereby establishing a fully unicameral system.
caption: Stortinget, Oslo
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