The election day has gone smoothly so far in both Oslo and Bergen after a record number of people voted in advance. In both municipalities, the vote count is well underway.
To date, 250,000 advance votes have been registered in Oslo. Out of the total, 26,000 votes have been received in Oslo but will be sent to other municipalities.
Oslo votes cast in other municipalities or abroad will be accepted until 5 PM on Tuesday. The final number of advance votes will therefore not be confirmed until Wednesday.
It is already clear that there is a sharp increase in the number of advance votes compared to the previous parliamentary elections in 2017, when 178,000 voters voted in advance in the capital.
Queues still possible
Despite all the advance votes, there are still crowds at some of the voting stations in the capital.
“It was quiet yesterday, as expected. Today, it is quiet, but there are more people – but not noticeably fewer than usual,” the Municipality’s election manager Ingvild Åsgård said.
However, queues could form when many people finish work.
“From experience, many people stop by the polling station on their way home from work. It is good to remember that there are 103 polling stations in Oslo,” Åsgård said.
Morning mood in Bergen
In the morning hours in Bergen, there was an unusually large turnout.
“There was a queue outside several polling stations before they opened at 9. That hasn’t happened many times before,” election manager Ida Rambech in Bergen told NTB.
During the day, the situation calmed down.
“I have spoken to those responsible at several polling stations, and everyone says that it is calm. It’s quieter than it was.”
“In the past, there have been peaks after working hours, but it may not be like that today,” she said.
No delays in the count
The Norwegian Electoral Directorate announced this weekend that the result of the advance voting could be somewhat delayed due to corona measures during the vote count.
This year the count started on Sunday – a day earlier than usual. Both Oslo and Bergen are in full swing with the vote-counting process.
“No delays in Bergen,” Rambech said.
Oslo is in the process of concluding the counting of advance votes.
“Here, we finished the manual counting yesterday. Now we are about to end the machine count,” Åsgård said.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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