Study title

Beginning in 1983 all foreign citizens who have been registered as a citizen in Norway for at least three years before the election day, have the right to vote in local government elections. In 1995 this group accounted for 2.7 per cent of those entitled to vote. The survey on foreign citizens and local government elections 1995 attempt to get some insight in the voting behaviour among this group. The questionnaire was sent out shortly after the election day to a total of 7295 persons. The questionnarie includes questions about election turnout, choice of policy, reason for choice of policy, attempts to influence political decisions, reasons not to participate in the election and knowledge about the voting procedure. 41.9 percent of the respondents returned the questionnaire. A weight have been made that takes into account how the sample was selected, nationality and election turnout. The weight should be used when speaking of the population. Statistics Norway conducted the survey on behalf of the Norwegian Ministry of Local Government and Labour.