Election Survey among Foreign Citizens, 1999

After the elections in 1983, 1987, 1991, 1995 and 1999, Statistics Norway have conducted surveys among foreign citizens that were eligible to vote. These surveys have been motivated by various reforms of the election arrangements in 1975, 1979 and 1999, which have all given foreign citizens an increasing degree of voting rights. In 1999, the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration (UDI) gave financial support to information campaigns that were managed by several country-wide organisations and a few immigration-driven radio channels. The objective was to increase election participation and interest in and knowledge about local political questions. The survey in 1999, which this data set is derived from, aimed to examine immigrants actual participation in the election, causes for lack of participation and effect of the information campaigns the government had carried out.