Advertisement

Majority of minorities in Norway support Labour: report

The Local Norway
The Local Norway - [email protected]
Majority of minorities in Norway support Labour: report
Voting booths at Oslo City Hall prior to municipal elections in 2015. Photo: Vegard Wivestad Grøtt/NTB scanpix

Nearly 60 percent of immigrants with Asian, African of Latin American backgrounds vote for the Norwegian Labour Party, according to Statistics Norway.

Advertisement

The figures, published in a new report published Wednesday by the statistics bureau, are based on votes in local and general elections.

But immigrants from European countries support the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet) in a similar proportion to the general non-immigrant population, said the report.

Support for conservative parties Liberal (Høyre) and the Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet) was slightly higher than support for Labour in European group.

Citizens of eastern European EEA countries showed twice as much support for the nationalist Progress Party as the general population.

And backing for the left-of-centre parties was lower for Asian, African and Latin American immigrants with higher education backgrounds.

Over 80 percent of people in this group with a maximum of high school-level education vote for one of Labour, the Socialist Left or the far-left Red party.

This drops to 60 percent for those with college or university backgrounds.

The Labour Party received lower support from people of Iranian, Vietnamese or Turkish nationality, with the latter two groups also showing relatively high levels of support for Høyre.

The reports also finds that African and Asian men are somewhat more left-wing than women – a reversal of the trend seen in the ethnic Norwegian population.

14 percent of those with the right to vote in Norway’s 2015 election had immigrant backgrounds, according to broadcaster NRK.

People who have held legal residence in Norway for three years or more have been allowed to vote in local elections since 1983.

Turnout amongst immigrants is low, according to the report, at 40 percent for immigrants that have been given citizenship and 38 percent for citizens with parents who immigrated to Norway comparing to 60 percent of the general population. 

Norway's general election is scheduled for September 11th this year.

READ ALSO: Norway's elections are among the very best in the world

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also