List of political parties in 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 party can easily gain a majority of the 169 legislative seats. Parties may cooperate to form coalition governments.

History[edit]

1884–1905[edit]

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 1891 election.

1905–1945[edit]

During the first years of the 20th century, major electoral shifts took place. In 1903, the leftist Labour Party gained its first five 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[edit]

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 centre-right pact before in 2013.

2001–present day[edit]

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 centre-right coalition of Liberals, Conservatives and Christian Democrats, led by the latter's Kjell Magne Bondevik. Following the 2005 election, the centre-left Red-Green Coalition won a majority in parliament, with Jens Stoltenberg returning as prime minister, and serving until 2013.

The 2013 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 centre-right parties.[6] Four years later, the centre-right parties managed to retain the majority in parliament with 88 of the 169 seats. Solberg continued to serve as prime minister, with different combinations of government coalition partners, all four parties at some time were part of Solberg Cabinet. In the most recent election of 2021, the result swung in strong favour of the centre-left parties who gathered 100 of 169 seats in the Storting. This led to a new government with Jonas Gahr Støre as prime minister, consisting of the Labour party and the Centre party.

Political parties[edit]

Parties currently in Parliament[edit]

Party Founded Ideology Position Leader Affiliation 2021 parliamentary election 2019 Norwegian local elections
International European MPs '21 election
vote share
Municipal
councils
County
councils
'19 election
vote share
Ap Labour Party
Arbeiderpartiet
1887 Social democracy Centre-left Jonas Gahr Støre PA PES
48 / 169
26.3%
2,583 / 9,344
148 / 574
24.8%
H Conservative Party
Høyre
1884 Liberal conservatism Centre-right Erna Solberg IDU EPP
36 / 169
20.4%
1,488 / 9,344
107 / 574
20.1%
Sp Centre Party
Senterpartiet
1920 Nordic agrarianism Centre Trygve Slagsvold Vedum None None
28 / 169
13.5%
2,265 / 9,344
106 / 574
14.4%
Frp Progress Party
Fremskrittspartiet
1973 Right-wing populism Right-wing to far-right Sylvi Listhaug None None
21 / 169
11.6%
701 / 9,344
55 / 574
8.2%
SV Socialist Left Party
Sosialistisk Venstreparti
1975 Democratic socialism Left-wing Kirsti Bergstø None NGLA
13 / 169
7.6%
459 / 9,344
34 / 574
6.1%
R Red Party
Rødt
2007 Socialism Left-wing to far-left Marie Sneve Martinussen None None
8 / 169
4.7%
193 / 9,344
20 / 574
3.8%
V Liberal Party
Venstre
1884 Social liberalism Centre Guri Melby LI ALDE
8 / 169
4.6%
264 / 9,344
16 / 574
3.9%
MDG Green Party
Miljøpartiet De Grønne
1988 Green politics Centre-left Arild Hermstad GG EGP
3 / 169
3.9%
310 / 9,344
36 / 574
6.8%
KrF Christian Democratic Party
Kristelig Folkeparti
1933 Christian democracy Centre to
centre-right
Olaug Bollestad CDI EPP
3 / 169
3.8%
411 / 9,344
25 / 574
4.0%
PF Patient Focus
Pasientfokus
2021 Direct democracy Single-issue Irene Ojala None None
1 / 169
0.2%
0 / 9,344
0 / 574
did not participate

Non-parliamentary parties with elected local representatives[edit]

Party Founded Associated ideology Current leader International
affiliation
2017 election
vote share
2021 election
vote share
2015 county
council members
2019 county
council members
People's Party FNB
Folkets Parti FNB
2014 Single-issue politics Frode Myrhol None 0 0.12%
3 / 574
17 / 574
Pensioners' Party
Pensjonistpartiet
1985 Pensioners' interests,
Social conservatism
Einar Lonstad None 0.44% 0.64%
6 / 574
6 / 574
Norway Democrats
Norgesdemokratene
2002 Right-wing populism,
National conservatism
Terje Svendsen None 0.13% 1.14%
1 / 574
3 / 574
Nordmøre List
Nordmørslista
2015 Nordmøre local interests Per Martin Kjønne None 0.1%
1 / 574
2 / 574
Sami People's Party
Samefolkets Parti
1999 Sami people's interests Birger Randulf Nymo None 0
2 / 574
?
Conservative
Konservativt
2011 Christian right Erik Selle None 0.30% 0.35%
0 / 574
1 / 574

Non-parliamentary parties with no elected representation[edit]

Party Founded Associated ideology Current leader International
affiliation
2017 election
vote share[needs update]
Health Party
Helsepartiet
2016 Health politics Lise Askvik None 0.4%
Capitalist Party
Liberalistene
2014 Classical liberalism,
Laissez-faire[7]
Arnt Rune Flekstad IALP 0.2%
Innovation and Technology party
Innovasjon- og teknologipartiet
2012 Pirate politics Tale Haukbjørk Østrådal PPI, PPEU 0.1%
Coastal Party
Kystpartiet
1999 Regionalism,
National conservatism
Bengt Stabrun Johansen None 0.1%
Feminist Initiative
Feministisk Initiativ
2015 Radical feminism Cathrine Linn Kristiansen,
Sunniva Schultze-Florey
None 0.0%
Communist Party of Norway
Norges Kommunistiske Parti
1903 Marxism–Leninism Runa Evensen IMCWP 0.0%
Party of Values
Verdipartiet
- Christian conservatism Magne Hersvik None 0.0%
Northern Assembly
Nordting
- Northern Norway local interests Amund Sjølie Sveen None 0.0%
Society Party
Samfunnspartiet
1985 Anarchism Bjørn Dahl None 0.0%
Norway Party
Norgespartiet
- Direct democracy Lars Rønbeck None 0.0%
People's Federation of the Saami
Samenes Folkeforbund
1993 Sami people's interests Liv O Slettli None 0
Árja
Innsatsvilje
2008 Social conservatism, Traditionalism Láilá Susanne Vars None 0
Alliance - Alternative for Norway
Alliansen - Alternativ for Norge
2016 Norwegian nationalism,
Anti-immigration,
Euroscepticism
Hans Jørgen Lysglimt Johansen None 0
Center Party
Partiet Sentrum
2020 Centrism Geir Lippestad None 0.3%

Defunct parties[edit]

Major/parliamentary parties[edit]

Minor parties[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ http://www.skoleforum.com/stiler/annet/det.aspx?id=6228[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ "Logg inn | Cappelen Damm Undervisning".
  3. ^ "Christopher Hornsrud - regjeringen.no". 27 December 2013.
  4. ^ "World War II".
  5. ^ "Governments-in-exile and royalty relocated to London during World War Two". March 2015.
  6. ^ "Fremskrittspartiet". 2 May 2022.
  7. ^ "Hvem er vi? - Liberalistene". Archived from the original on 2015-09-02. Retrieved 30 May 2015.

External links[edit]