Legal provisions for citizens' initiatives at national level
Norway
Constitution 1814 (revised in 2004)
https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Norway_2004.pdf
Jos Verhulst & Arjen Nijeboer
Direct Democracy: Facts and Arguments aboutthe Introduction of Initiative and Referendum. DemocracyInternational, Brussels. 2007
EuropeanCommission for Democracy Through Law, Referendums in Europe- an Analysis ofthe Legal Rules in European States (Venice Commission 2005)
The Norwegian constitution dates from 1814, and does not providefor any form of direct democracy. The parliament (the ‘Storting’) can, however,hold a non-binding plebiscite. Since 1905, six national plebiscites have beenheld in this way. There is also an extensive tradition of plebiscites atmunicipal level, where about 500 plebiscites have taken place since 1972. In2003, the parliament introduced the citizens’ initiative referendum at themunicipal level. This enables 300 citizens to put a specific subject to apopular vote.
