School Election 1994 (EU Referendum), National Study

Since 1989, national school elections have been conducted in tandem with municipal and national elections. NSD - Norwegian Centre for Research Data is the national organizer and coordinator of the project. Until and including 2003, the Ministry of Church Affairs, Education and Research (KUF) financed the project. Since 2005 The Directorate of Education and Training has held the overall responsibility for the project, as well as being its source of finance. The school elections in Norwegian upper secondary schools have deep roots. The elections play a central role in the electoral preparation work of the schools, and they are seen as an important way to encourage first time voters to make use of their democratic rights. The elections are also seen as meaningful outside the educational sector. The results are usually given broad coverage in the media, and it seen as an important indicator of political parties' relative success in communicating their message to the adolescents. In addition, electoral researchers view the results as sensitive and valuable gages of parties' future support. More information concerning School Elections can be found online: www.samfunnsveven.no For more information visit: http://www.samfunnsveven.no/