On 29 April, the Supreme Court ruled that the government’s decision in 2021 to deregister and deny state funding to Jehovah’s Witnesses was invalid. Jehovah’s Witnesses had previously been a registered religious community since 1985. The authorities had justified the measures by arguing that the religious community’s practice of social shunning of former members violates children’s rights and its members’ right to free withdrawal. The Court found that the threshold for restricting religious communities had not been met and that the state had failed to provide sufficient evidence of rights violations. The group’s registration as a religious community will therefore be reinstated, as well as the entitlement to public funding. The ruling reinforces a high threshold for the religious community’s right to autonomy and collective religious practice protected by the European Convention of Human Rights. 

Sources: NRK, Aftenposten, NHRI, Lovdata, UPR-Info 

The September parliamentary elections saw the highest voter turnout since 1989, with 80.1 per cent (roughly 3.3 million votes) of the total 4.1 million registered voters participating. While voter turnout has been fairly stable since the 1990s, 2025 saw a notable increase. In particular, voter turnout among immigrants and Norwegian-born people with an immigrant background in Oslo increased by 9 percentage points from 2021. Record numbers of Norwegian citizens voted in the advance voting period, comprising 63 per cent of total votes cast. Voters were galvanised by frustrations over rising living costs, public spending and economic inequalities, in particular debates about the wealth tax. Additionally, both the Red-Green alliance and the Centre-Right alliance included parties fighting to pass the 4.0 per cent electoral threshold (including the Green party, the Christian People’s party and the Liberal party), contributing to a perception that every vote matters. 

Sources: International IDEA, Forskning.no, NRK, The Guardian, Valgdirektoratet 

On 8 September, Norway held parliamentary elections to fill all 169 seats of the Storting, the country’s unicameral legislature. Jonas Gahr Støre’s incumbent Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiert) received the highest vote share with 28.0 per cent of the vote, securing 53 seats, and ran in the election with the support of the Red-Green alliance.  The right-wing Progress Party (Fremskrittspartiet) came second with 23.8 per cent of the vote (47 seats), more than doubling its support from the last elections in 2021. The Right (Høyre) came third with 14.6 per cent of the vote (24 seats), losing 12 seats and its position as the right-wing bloc’s  leading opposition forceparty. The proportion of women in Parliament will be 40.2 per cent, down from 45.0 per cent in 2021. This parliamentary election saw the highest voter turnout since 1989, reaching 80.1 per cent, up from 77.2 per cent in the 2021 elections. 

Sources: Valgdirektoratet, Statistics Norway, NRK, IPU Parline, International IDEA

On 20 June, Parliament approved changes to the criminal code (Chapter 26 on sexual offenses) to explicitly criminalize sex without consent. Under the amendments, sex without consent, given either in words or actions, becomes a criminal offense, punishable by up to six years in prison. Additionally, cases where a person engages in sexual intercourse despite the other party expressing a refusal carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. Previously, penalties for rape were limited to cases involving violence, threatening behaviour, or situations where the victim is unable to resist. The amendments also strengthen protections against the sexual exploitation of minors. The legislation enters into force on 1 July.

Sources: Stortinget, NRK, The Local, Regjeringen, Lovdata, Ja Til Samtykkelov