The Progress Party (FrP) wants to deprive around 360,000 foreign citizens of the right to vote in local elections. In the autumn the party will put forward a proposal in the Storting that only Norwegian citizens shall be allowed to vote.

– We must ensure that those who influence politics are actually Norwegian citizens, says Storting representative Erlend Wiborg to VG.

Today foreigners who have been registered in the population register in Norway for the past three years may vote in local elections. In parliamentary elections a stricter requirement applies: there only Norwegian citizens have the right to vote.

The Progress Party wants to remove that difference.

– We think it is strange that in local elections there is a different arrangement, which means that many hundreds of thousands of non-Norwegian citizens have the right to vote. We consider that a challenge, says Wiborg.

Wiborg also brings in security. He points out that foreign states actively try to influence Norwegian elections through their citizens living abroad.

– It is clearly documented how other countries try to influence Norwegian elections. We know that certain countries control the diaspora. For example Eritrean authorities to a very large extent try to control the diaspora, he says.

In the local elections in 2023 around 360,000 foreign citizens had the right to vote, according to Statistics Norway (SSB). By far the largest group was Poles, with well over 70,000 eligible voters.

The proposal looks set to be stillborn. Both the Conservative Party, the Labour Party and the Christian Democratic Party tell VG that they want foreigners to continue to have a say in local elections in Norway.