1994 Norwegian European Union membership referendum
Should Norway become a member of the EU (European Union)? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date | 27 November – 28 November 1994 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A referendum on joining the European Union was held in Norway on 27 and 28 November 1994.[1][2][3] After a long period of heated debate, the "no" side won with 52.2 per cent of the vote, on a turnout of 88.6 per cent. Membership of what was then the European Community had previously been rejected in a 1972 referendum, and by French veto in 1962.
Contents
Campaign
The "No" campaign was led by Anne Enger Lahnstein, leader of the Centre Party.[4] The main themes of the "No" campaign were loss of sovereignty if Norway should join the Union, as well as the fundamental differences in economic structure between Norway and the EU, as Norway has an economy based heavily on natural resources (especially oil and fish), in contrast to the EU's more industrial economy.
Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland led the "Yes" campaign. Her party, the Labour Party, was divided on the question of Norwegian membership of the Union. She refused to threaten to resign if the referendum failed to result in a "Yes" vote, on the grounds that more serious divisions could have arisen in the Labour Party. The main arguments of the "Yes" side were that as a European country, Norway belonged in the European Union, and that Norway's economy would benefit from membership.
According to John Erik Fossum, a political science professor at ARENA, Centre for European Studies, University of Oslo, "the fact that Norway had already signed the EEA agreement made it easier for people to vote no because they knew that Norway had assured EU market access."[5]
Debates
1994 Norwegian EU membership debates | |||||||||||
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Date | Time | Organizers | P Present I Invitee N Non-invitee | ||||||||
Ap | H | Sp | Sv | KrF | Frp | V | R | Refs | |||
25. november | 00:00 | NRK | P Gro Harlem Brundtland, Thorbjørn Jagland |
P Jan Petersen |
P Anne Enger Lahnstein |
P Erik Solheim |
P Kjell Magne Bondevik |
P Carl I. Hagen |
P Odd Einar Dørum |
P Aksel Nærstad |
[6] |
Results
Countrywide
Norwegian European Union membership referendum, 1994[7][8] | ||
Choice | Votes | % |
---|---|---|
No | 1,516,803 | 52.2 |
Yes | 1,389,997 | 47.8 |
Valid votes | 2,906,750 | 99.9 |
Invalid or blank votes | 3,571 | 0.1 |
Total votes | 2,910,321 | 100.00 |
Registered voters and turnout | 3,266,064 | 89.0 |
By constituency
Constituency | Electorate | Spoilt votes | Total poll (%) | Yes (%) | No (%) | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Østfold | 185,441 | 307 | 163,338 (88) | 87,390 (54) | 75,998 (46) | |||
Akershus | 322,029 | 443 | 293,331 (91) | 187,126 (64) | 106,205 (36) | |||
Oslo | 360,340 | 497 | 317,585 (88) | 211,550 (67) | 106,035 (33) | |||
Hedmark | 146,468 | 215 | 129,674 (89) | 55,367 (43) | 74,307 (57) | |||
Oppland | 142,911 | 251 | 126,245 (88) | 55,702 (44) | 70,543 (56) | |||
Buskerud | 174,271 | 240 | 154,345 (89) | 88,281 (57) | 66,064 (43) | |||
Vestfold | 155,338 | 123 | 138,099 (89) | 78,698 (57) | 59,401 (43) | |||
Telemark | 125,401 | 106 | 110,136 (88) | 46,478 (42) | 63,658 (58) | |||
Aust-Agder | 73,841 | 68 | 64,927 (88) | 28,805 (44) | 36,122 (56) | |||
Vest-Agder | 108,226 | 58 | 96,318 (89) | 43,947 (46) | 52,371 (54) | |||
Rogaland | 251,790 | 166 | 227,485 (90) | 103,066 (45) | 124,419 (55) | |||
Hordaland | 313,511 | 244 | 281,543 (90) | 122,942 (44) | 158,601 (56) | |||
Sogn og Fjordane | 80,104 | 52 | 71,650 (89) | 22,761 (32) | 48,889 (68) | |||
Møre og Romsdal | 180,426 | 178 | 160,713 (89) | 61,715 (38) | 98,998 (62) | |||
Sør-Trøndelag | 194,869 | 239 | 171,007 (88) | 77,035 (45) | 93,972 (55) | |||
Nord-Trøndelag | 96,344 | 50 | 86,110 (89) | 31,018 (36) | 55,092 (64) | |||
Nordland | 183,703 | 226 | 162,474 (88) | 46,394 (29) | 116,080 (71) | |||
Troms | 113,840 | 57 | 101,428 (89) | 28,860 (28) | 72,568 (72) | |||
Finnmark | 57,211 | 51 | 50,342 (88) | 12,862 (26) | 37,480 (74) | |||
Source: Dataset European Election Database Archived 2020-08-31 at the Wayback Machine |
See also
References
- ↑ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p1438 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Biography on Norwegian government's website Script error: No such module "In lang".
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Folkeavstemningene om EU og EF. Fylkesvis Statistics Norway Script error: No such module "In lang".
- ↑ Folkeavstemningen om EU[permanent dead link] Statistics Norway Script error: No such module "In lang".
External links
- The European Movement in Norway
- No to the EU - Norwegian eurosceptics
- Norway. EU Referendum 1994, Electoral Geography 2.0 website
- Articles with dead external links from February 2018
- Articles with permanently dead external links
- Pages with broken file links
- Webarchive template wayback links
- Referendums in Norway
- 1994 referendums
- 1994 in Norway
- Referendums related to European Union accession
- 1994 in international relations
- 1994 in the European Union
- Norway–European Union relations
- November 1994 events in Europe