Unges deltakelse i det samiske demokratiet: Motivasjon for å delta i sametingsvalg og stortingsvalg

In this chapter, we examine young Sámi voters’ motivation to vote in elections to the Sámi Parliament in Norway, contrasted with elections to the national parliament. We use semi-structured qualitative interviews with twelve informants from three different constituencies. Our starting point is two categories of explanations: individual and institutional factors. We find that the impact of the individual vote is perceived as greater in Sámi parliamentary elections, where there are fewer voters compared with Norwegian general elections. Furthermore, many of our informants mention specific issues as a motivation to vote in Sámi parliamentary elections, while the issues in the general election are described at a more abstract level. In the Sámi parliamentary elections, civic duty is linked to being a minority and the strength in numbers if everyone votes. In contrast, civic duty in general elections is linked to the role and power of the national parliament. Many of the informants regard individual candidates as more important in Sámi parliamentary elections than in general elections. In sum, young Sámi voters seem to feel closer to Sámi politics than national politics, but many believe that national elections have a greater impact on their lives. Moreover, compared to the wealth of available information on general elections, Sámi elections suffer from a lack of information on the Sámi Parliament and its parties.