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ELECTION 2017

Foreign observers to monitor Norwegian election

17 Norwegian municipalities will be visited by international election observers during polling for Monday’s general election.

Foreign observers to monitor Norwegian election
Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

26 international observers in total will follow proceedings as Norway votes for its new government on September 11th, with data security a particular area of interest, reports Norwegian news agency NTB.

Norway’s foreign ministry has invited the international experts to ensure election day goes smoothly, according to the report.

“Although most things go according to plan with Norwegian elections, the experience international observers bring provides us with a useful correction method,” Bjørn Engesland, general secretary of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee (Den norske Helsingforskomité), told NTB.

Following the 2005 election, observers recommended that election officials implement stricter requirements for identification at polling stations.

In 2013, long distances to polls in rural areas of Finnmark County were among recommendations for improvement given to the committee.

The majority of the observers are from former Soviet nations and have experience with implementing democracy in their own countries, reports NTB.

“I don’t expect to find illegal methods being used to influence results, but data security is an important theme for the observation,” Olga Kotsjuruba, and observer from Ukraine, told the news agency.

Conclusions from reports filed by the observers will be presented by Engesland the day after the election.

READ MORE: All the news from the build-up to Norway's general election