100th anniversary and year of local elections
2019 is not only an important year due to the local elections (kommunevalgår) in Norway, but also an important anniversary year.
This year, it's been 100 years since the Storting (unicameral parliament of the Kingdom of Norway) decided that poor people had the right to vote in elections.
It was on July 17, 1919, that the Storting abrogated the constitutional provision, section 52d, that voting rights should be suspended.
On March 11 this year, the Storting began celebrating this anniversary, which will be devoted mainly to conveying this story and the debate on democratic participation today.
-The 1919 decision was important because it was then
that social and economic status or personal qualities were no longer what decided who could vote or not.
So the right to vote is a human right in Norway, said the president of the Storting Tone Wilhelmsen Trøen.
"We hope that children and adults all over the country will be inspired to participate in the anniversary all year long,
by studying this forgotten part of our history, perhaps helping to recall the story of how
what was it like and what has changed in people's lives, in their own environment or in the commune " Says Trøen, adding:
- Perhaps the most important thing is to use thoughts to put this past into questions for discussion on one of the most important issues of our time:
who is currently not involved in community life? Who is it who cannot or will not participate in the democratic processes that shape us and today's society?
In 1919, the idea was to grant all people the right to democratic participation, irrespective of the social and economic framework.
Today, the idea is for everyone to exercise their right to vote and participate in democratic processes, elections and the impact on the society in which we live.
Also we, Poles, who constitute by far the largest group of immigrants in Norway, and according to official statistics, there are around 100 of us.
We have the right to participate in local self-government elections and to shape our environment by casting our vote.
And the next local elections in Norwegian communes will be held in September.
wjs
