County governor (Norway)

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (October 2024)

Politics of Norway
Constitution
Monarchy King Harald V Crown Prince Haakon
Government Council of State (current cabinet) Prime Minister (list) Jonas Gahr Støre List of governments
Parliament Storting President: Masud Gharahkhani Norwegian Parliamentary Ombudsman Political parties Politicians
Recent elections Parliamentary: 2021 2017 2013 2009 Local: 2023 2019 2015 2011
Local government Administrative divisions Counties (Fylker) Municipalities (Kommuner) Sámi Parliament
Foreign relations European Union relations Membership of International organizations
Norway portal Other countries
v t e

The county governor (Bokmål: statsforvalteren; Nynorsk: statsforvaltaren, lit. 'state administrator' in English) is a Norwegian government agency that represents the central government administration in all counties of Norway. Responsible for a number of supervision and management duties, the governor is the representative of the king and the government of Norway in each county, functioning as the connection between the state and the municipalities. The county governor is subordinate to the Ministry of Local Government and Modernisation, but also to the other ministries in their respective duties.

The main responsibilities of the governor include controlling and being an instance of appeal for municipal decisions and the main instance for exercising state regulation of agriculture and local environmental impact. The governor is also responsible for civil matters including marriage, divorce and citizenship. if a municipality fails to balance its budget, the governor enters the municipality into the Register for Governmental Approval of Financial Obligations and obtain some control over the municipality's finances.

The governor is part of the executive branch and is formally appointed by the King-in-Council. The governor of Svalbard has wider authorities, including for the police. The (appointed) county governor should not be confused with the (elected) Chair of the County Council, more commonly known as the county mayor (fylkesordfører).