The election ended with a victory for the four opposition right-of-center parties, which won a total of 96 seats out of 169 (85 needed for a majority).

The Green Party, which had not declared support for either bloc, received its first ever member of parliament with a single seat from Oslo.

To determine the apportionment of the 169 seats amongst the 19 counties, a two-tier formula is used, based on population and geographic size.

Hedmark, Sogn og Fjordane, Nord-Trøndelag, Nordland and Troms all lost one seat each.

[citation needed] Kristin Halvorsen, who had been leader of the Socialist Left Party since 1997, stepped down in early 2012.

The opposition parties criticized the sitting government for health care queues and not making more use of private providers, for failure to invest in infrastructure, and for high tax rates.

As their showings in polling rose, they began to face criticism for highly radical proposals.

Nonetheless, the environmentally oriented Liberal and Socialist Left parties expressed worry that the Greens could become a spoiler by taking votes from them.

[9] It also campaigned for abolishing the inheritance tax, means-testing for welfare recipients, tax incentives for private savings, simplifying procurement rules to make it easier for smaller businesses to offer for government tenders and the deregulation of alcohol sales.

The retort provoked a negative reaction and was described as legitimate but unwise by the political commentator Frank Aarebrot.

According to Statistisk sentralbyrå, a total of 40.45 million NOK in campaign contributions was raised by all political parties in 2013.

[15] In the run up to the election, various organizations conducted opinion polls to gauge voting intentions.

Christian Democrat leader Knut Arild Hareide said: "The centre will play a key role.

We and Trine Skei Grande (Liberal Party leader) have got a key role for the next four years.

[23] University of Bergen politics professor Frank Aarebrot said of the election campaign that it was dominated by classical welfare issues such as better care for the elderly, improved hospitals and better schools.

At the same time, he pointed out that no party called for Norwegians to pay privately for such things as hospital visits, college education or elderly care.

[9] Solberg said that while staying committed to cutting taxes, reducing the size of government and improving health care, she acknowledged a need to make policy concessions.

[20] Four-party talks involved the Conservatives, Progress Party (FrP), Christian Democrats (KrF) and Liberals.