List of political parties in Norway

Kingdom of Norway
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This article lists political parties in Norway.

Norway has a multi-party system with numerous political parties, in which no one party can easily gain a majority of the 169 legislative seats. Parties may cooperate to form coalition governments.

History

1884–1905

The oldest political party in Norway is the Liberal Party, which was formed in 1884. Shortly afterwards, the Conservative Party was formed in opposition. The main political cleavage at the time was the issue of parliamentarism, with Liberals in favor and Conservatives in opposition. Until 1903, Norway was, for all intents and purposes, a two-party system;[1] the smaller Moderate Liberal Party joined the Conservatives in a de facto permanent electoral coalition from the 1881 election.

1905–1945

During the first years of the 20th century, major electoral shifts took place. In 1903, the leftist Labour Party gained its first 5 MPs, after having captured 10% of the national vote. For the 1921 elections, the former two-round, single-member district system was replaced with proportional representation,[2] allowing for further gains for medium-sized parties such as Labour and the Farmers' Party, which had been formed the previous year. In 1927, Labour surged to first place nationally, a position it has held in every single election since then. In 1928, they formed their first government, ending the decades-long power-alteration between Liberals and Conservatives. This government, headed by Christopher Hornsrud, was short-lived, however; it lasted a mere 18 days.[3] The Farmers' Party followed suit, sitting in government briefly from 1931 to 1933, under Peder Kolstad and Jens Hundseid. Despite the surge of previously minor parties, the Liberals and Conservatives retained significance, with Johan Ludwig Mowinckel (1933–1935) serving as the last Liberal prime minister to date. With the onset of World War II, Johan Nygaardsvold from the Labour Party served as de jure prime minister for a decade, from 1935 to 1945.

During the Nazi occupation of Norway, political opposition to the collaborationist regime of Vidkun Quisling and the Nasjonal Samling party was silenced and prosecuted; Nygaardsvold's cabinet went into exile in London in 1940, and did not return before 1945.[4][5]

1945–2001

From the first post-war elections in 1945 until the 1961 elections, the Labour Party held an absolute majority in parliament, with its Einar Gerhardsen serving as prime minister for, in total, 17 years and 17 days. For most of this period, Norway was generally regarded as a dominant-party system, with the divided opposition, consisting of Liberals, Conservatives, Centrists, Christian Democrats and occasionally Communists, unable to match Labour. It was first in 1963, in the aftermath of the Kings Bay Affair, that the Conservative John Lyng was able to take power with support from the other non-socialist groups. With the gradual decline of the Labour Party, opposition figures such as Per Borten (Centrist), Lars Korvald (Christian Democrat) and Kåre Willoch served as prime ministers at various points during the latter half of the 20th century. 1973 saw the advent of anti-establishment parties such as Anders Lange's Party and the Socialist Electoral League, which would later become the right-wing Progress Party and Socialist Left, respectively. Both of these groups remained relatively isolated on the political scene for the subsequent decades; the Socialist Left did not enter government before 2005, while the Progress Party was not included in a center-right pact before in 2013.

2001–present day

The parliamentary election in 2001 saw the collapse of the Labour Party's traditionally constantly large lead over non-socialist parties; they took a mere 24% of votes – a loss of 11 points – against 21% for the Conservatives of Jan Petersen. The short-lived Cabinet Stoltenberg I, a Labour government in office since 2000, stepped down in favor of a center-right coalition of Liberals, Conservatives and Christian Democrats, led by the latter's Kjell Magne Bondevik. Following the 2005 election, the center-left Red-Green Coalition won a majority in parliament, with Jens Stoltenberg returning as prime minister, and serving until 2013.

The most recent election provided the bloc of the Conservative Erna Solberg a clear parliamentary majority, with 96 of the 169 seats in parliament. She formed a government with the Progress Party of Siv Jensen, breaking the latter's decades-long isolation from the other center-right parties.[6]

The parties

Parliamentary parties

Name Ideology Leader Affiliation Strength
International European MPs '13 vote share
AP Arbeiderpartiet
Labour Party		 Social democracy Jonas Gahr Støre Progressive Alliance PES
55 / 169
 30.8%
H Høyre
Conservative Party		 Liberal conservatism Erna Solberg International Democrat Union EPP
48 / 169
 26.8%
FRP Fremskrittspartiet
Progress Party		 Conservative liberalism Siv Jensen None None
29 / 169
 16.3%
KRF Kristelig Folkeparti
Christian Democratic Party		 Christian democracy Knut Arild Hareide Centrist Democrat International EPP
10 / 169
 5.6%
SP Senterpartiet
Centre Party		 Agrarianism Trygve Slagsvold Vedum None None
10 / 169
 5.5%
V Venstre
Liberal Party		 Social liberalism Trine Skei Grande Liberal International ALDE
9 / 169
 5.2%
SV Sosialistisk Venstreparti
Socialist Left Party		 Democratic socialism Audun Lysbakken None NGLA
7 / 169
 4.1%
MDG Miljøpartiet de Grønne
Green Party		 Green politics Rasmus Hansson,
Une Aina Bastholm		 Global Greens EGP
1 / 169
 2.8%

Non-parliamentary parties

English party name Norwegian party name Associated ideology Current leader International affiliation 2013 Parliamentary election County council members (2015)
Red Party Rødt Revolutionary socialism Bjørnar Moxnes none 1.1% 10
The Christians Party Partiet De Kristne Christian right Erik Selle none 0.6% 0
Pensioners' Party Pensjonistpartiet Pensioners' interests Einar Lonstad none 0.4% 3
Pirate Party Piratpartiet Pirate politics Tale Haukbjørk Østrådal Pirate Parties International, European Pirate Party 0.3% 0
Christian Unity Party Kristent Samlingsparti Christian right Morten Selven none 0.1% -
Coastal Party Kystpartiet Fishery interests Bengt Stabrun Johansen none 0.1% 1
Democrats in Norway Demokratene i Norge Right-wing populism Terje Svendsen none 0.1% 1
Communist Party of Norway Norges Kommunistiske Parti Marxism–Leninism Runa Evensen International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties 0.0% 0
Liberal People's Party Det Liberale Folkepartiet Classical liberalism, Laissez-faire, Objectivism Vegard Martinsen none 0.0% 0
Society Party Samfunnspartiet Anarchism Øystein Johannessen none 0.0% 0
Capitalist Party Liberalistene Classical liberalism, Laissez-faire[7] Arnt Rune Flekstad Interlibertarians, International Alliance of Libertarian Parties - 0
Sami People's Party Samefolkets Parti Sami people interests Birger Randulf Nymo none - 0

Defunct parties

Major/parliamentary parties

Minor parties

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.skoleforum.com/stiler/annet/det.aspx?id=6228
  2. ↑ http://alletidershistorie.cappelendamm.no/vgsamf/aktivitet.html?kap=1139323&tid=1312753
  3. ↑ https://www.regjeringen.no/no/om-regjeringa/tidligere/departementer_embeter/embeter/statsminister-1814-/christopher-andersen-hornsrud/id463379/
  4. ↑ http://www.kongehuset.no/artikkel.html?tid=28689
  5. ↑ https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/governments-exile-royalty-relocated-london-world-war-two.html
  6. ↑ https://snl.no/Fremskrittspartiet
  7. ↑ "Hvem er vi? - Liberalistene". Retrieved 30 May 2015.
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