2011 Norwegian local elections

[3] In 2008, Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa, the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development announced that she was considering lowering the voting age from 18 to 16 in some municipalities as a trial.

The municipalities taking part in the trial are:[5] The issue of how and when the campaign would be conducted was affected by the 2011 Norway attacks on 22 July, which killed 77 people, most of them young supporters of the national Labour Party.

[8] The current Red-Green government postponed the planned building of a new hospital in Molde, instead considering moving vital functions to it from Kristiansund, the local population in Molde saw the postponement as a broken promise, while the locals in Kristiansund wanted a common hospital instead due to the latter issue.

[8] In early 2011, the Labour Party saw a shock opinion poll in Romsdal (which includes the city Molde) of a mere 5.8% support, which fell further in April to 1%.

[8] The handling of the controversy by the party, and particularly its Minister of Health and Care Services, Anne-Grete Strøm-Erichsen, was seen as the reason for the fall.