The 2021 Norwegian Sámi parliamentary election was held on 13 September 2021. All 39 seats in the Norwegian Sámi legislature, the Sámediggi, were up for election.

Background

Previous election

In the previous election, held on 11 September 2017, the

Norwegian Sámi Association The Norwegian Sámi Association ( se, Norgga Sámiid Riikasearvi , no, Norske Samers Riksforbund), also known as NSR, is the largest Sámi people, Sámi organization in Norway. The association was founded in 1968. Purpose The NSR actively ru ...

, with former President of the

Sámi Parliament The Sámi ( ; also spelled Sami or Saami) are a Finno-Ugric-speaking people inhabiting the region of Sápmi (formerly known as Lapland), which today encompasses large northern parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and of the Murmansk Oblast, R ...

Aili Keskitalo Aili Keskitalo (born 29 October 1968) is a Norwegian Sami politician representing the Norwegian Sámi Association (NSR), who has served as the president of the Sami Parliament for three terms, from 2005 to 2007, 2013 to 2016 and 2017 to 2021. Pri ...

as their Presidential candidate, won a plurality, with 18 of the 39 seats, including 2 on a joint list with the Sami People's Party. On 9 October, the Norwegian Sámi Association formed a

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

on the Governing Council with the Centre Party, Ávjovári Moving Sámi List and Åarjel-Saemiej Gielh, together controlling 22 seats in the Sámi Parliament. Keskitalo took office as President on 12 October after being elected by the Parliament. The Labour Party, which had governed from 2015, returned to the opposition. Other opposition parties included the North Calotte People, Progress Party, Guovdageainnu Residents List,

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

, Sami People's Party, and Árja.

Presidential candidates

In June 2020, Aili Keskitalo announced that she would not be running for re-election as President. The

nominated

Silje Karine Muotka Silje Karine Muotka (born 12 April 1975) is a Norwegian-Sámi politician from Nesseby who lives in Alta, Norway. Muotka is the president of the Sámi Parliament of Norway and was formerly a member of the Sámi Parliament's executive council. Ed ...

, the incumbent Councillor of Environment, Industry, and Developmental Issues on the

Governing Council A personal ordinariate for former Anglicanism, Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate,"...the liturgies approved for the Anglican ordinariates..." "Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St ...

, as their candidate. The Labour Party nominated Ronny Wilhelmsen, their Presidential candidate in 2017. The North Calotte People nominated their leader, Toril Bakken Kåven.

Electoral system

The election used party-list proportional representation in 7 multi-member constituencies. Each constituency is given a minimum of 2 seats. The apportionment of the remaining 25 seats is based on the number of voters on the Sámi electoral roll on 30 June on the year of the last local elections in 2019, and allocated using the Sainte-Laguë method. Voters aged 18 or over, and registered on the Sámi electoral roll prior to 30 June 2021, were entitled to vote in the Sámi Parliament election. To register, a voter must declare that they identify as Sámi, and that they either have Sámi as their mother tongue, have a Sámi parent, grandparent or great-grandparent, or are the child of a person already on the electoral roll. Sámi people from Sweden, Finland or Russia must be registered in Norway for the past three years in order to register. Advance voting was available from 10 August to 10 September (1 July for voters abroad or in

Svalbard Svalbard ( , ), also known as Spitsbergen, or Spitzbergen, is a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. North of mainland Europe, it is about midway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole. The islands of the group range ...

Jan Mayen Jan Mayen () is a Norwegian volcanic island in the Arctic Ocean with no permanent population. It is long (southwest-northeast) and in area, partly covered by glaciers (an area of around the Beerenberg volcano). It has two parts: larger nort ...

), and required for voters in municipalities with fewer than 30 people on the Sámi electoral roll. In total, 8,340 votes, 40.6% of the total, were advance votes.

Results

By constituency

Vote share

Number of seats

Aftermath

The

presidential candidate

declared victory on the night of the election. Muotka stated that renewal of the Muohtačalbmi coalition with the Centre Party and Ávjovári Moving Sámi List was her preference. On 12 October, the

, Centre Party and Ávjovári Moving Sámi List announced that they had reached an agreement to continue cooperating within the Sámi Parliament. On 18 October, the cooperation agreement, named the Beaiveálgu Declaration after the first Sámi-language novel, was presented.

named her Governing Council, consisting of the

, with one Centre Party member. Muotka was elected President of the Sámi Parliament on 21 October.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norwegian Sami Parliamentary Election, 2021 Sami, 2021 Sami, 2021 Sámi in Norway 2021 elections in Europe Sami parliamentary election September 2021 events in Europe Norwegian Sámi parliamentary election