List of 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.

This article lists political parties in Norway.

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 centre-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 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 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 centre-right parties.[6]

The parties

Parties currently in Parliament

Name			Founded	Ideology	Position	Leader	Affiliation		2017 Parliamentary Elections		2019 Norwegian local elections
							International	European	MPs	'17 election vote share	Municipal councils	County councils	'19 election vote share
	AP	Arbeiderpartiet Labour Party	1887	Social democracy	Centre-left	Jonas Gahr Støre	Progressive Alliance	PES	49 / 169	27.4%	2,583 / 9,344	148 / 574	24.8%
	H	Høyre Conservative Party	1884	Liberal conservatism	Centre-right	Erna Solberg	International Democrat Union	EPP	45 / 169	25.0%	1,488 / 9,344	107 / 574	20.1%
	Frp	Fremskrittspartiet Progress Party	1973	National conservatism[7]	Right-wing	Siv Jensen	None	None	27 / 169	15.2%	701 / 9,344	55 / 574	8.2%
	Sp	Senterpartiet Centre Party	1920	Nordic agrarianism	Centre	Trygve Slagsvold Vedum	None	None	19 / 169	10.3%	2,265 / 9,344	106 / 574	14.4%
	SV	Sosialistisk Venstreparti Socialist Left Party	1975	Democratic socialism	Left-wing	Audun Lysbakken	None	NGLA	11 / 169	6.0%	459 / 9,344	34 / 574	6.1%
	V	Venstre Liberal Party	1884	Liberalism	Centre	Guri Melby	Liberal International	ALDE	8 / 169	4.4%	264 / 9,344	16 / 574	3.9%
	KrF	Kristelig Folkeparti Christian Democratic Party	1933	Christian democracy	Centre to centre-right	Kjell Ingolf Ropstad	Centrist Democrat International	EPP	8 / 169	4.2%	411 / 9,344	25 / 574	4.0%
	MdG	Miljøpartiet de Grønne Green Party	1988	Green politics	Centre-left	Une Aina Bastholm, Arild Hermstad	Global Greens	EGP	1 / 169	3.2%	310 / 9,344	36 / 574	6.8%
	R	Rødt Red Party	2007	Marxism	Left-wing to far-left	Bjørnar Moxnes	None	None	1 / 169	2.4%	193 / 9,344	20 / 574	3.8%

Non-parliamentary parties

English party name	Norwegian party name	Founded	Associated ideology	Current leader	International affiliation	2017 Parliamentary election	2015 County council members	2019 County council members
Árja	Innsatsvilje	2008	Social conservatism, Traditionalism	Láilá Susanne Vars	None	0	-	-
Pensioners' Party	Pensjonistpartiet	1985	Social conservatism	Einar Lonstad	none	0.4%	6 / 574	6 / 574
The Christians Party	Partiet De Kristne	2011	Christian right	Erik Selle	none	0.4%	0 / 574	1 / 574
Health Party	Helsepartiet	2016	Single-issue politics	Lise Askvik	None	0.4%	0 / 574	0 / 574
Capitalist Party	Liberalistene	2014	Classical liberalism, Laissez-faire[8]	Arnt Rune Flekstad	International Alliance of Libertarian Parties	0.2%	0 / 574	0 / 574
Democrats in Norway	Demokratene i Norge	2002	Right-wing populism, national conservatism	Terje Svendsen	none	0.1%	1 / 574	3 / 574
Pirate Party	Piratpartiet	2012	Pirate politics	Tale Haukbjørk Østrådal	Pirate Parties International, European Pirate Party	0.1%	0 / 574	0 / 574
The Alliance	Alliansen	2016	Nationalism	Hans Jørgen Lysglimt Johansen	none	0.1%	-	-
Coastal Party	Kystpartiet	1999	National conservatism	Bengt Stabrun Johansen	none	0.1%	1 / 574	0 / 574
Nordmøre List	Nordmørslista	2015	Nordmøre local interests	Per Martin Kjønne	None	0.1%	1 / 574	2 / 574
Feminist Initiative	Feministisk Initiativ	2015	Feminism	Cathrine Linn Kristiansen, Sunniva Schultze-Florey	None	0.0%	0 / 574	?
Communist Party of Norway	Norges Kommunistiske Parti	1903	Marxism–Leninism	Runa Evensen	International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties	0.0%	0 / 574	0 / 574
Values Party	Verdipartiet	-	Social conservatism, Christian conservatism	Magne Hersvik	None	0.0%	0 / 574	?
Northern Assembly	Nordting	-	Northern Norway local interests	Amund Sjølie Sveen	None	0.0%	-	?
Society Party	Samfunnspartiet	1985	Anarchism	Øystein Johannessen	none	0.0%	0 / 574	0 / 574
Norway Party	Norgespartiet	-	Nationalism	Lars Rønbeck	None	0.0%	0 / 574	?
People's Federation of the Saami	Samenes Folkeforbund	1993	Sami people interests	Liv O Slettli	None	0	-	?
Sami People's Party	Samefolkets Parti	1999	Sami people interests	Birger Randulf Nymo	none	0	2 / 574	?
Folkeaksjonen nei til mer bompenger	Folkeaksjonen nei til mer bompenger	-	Single-issue politics	Frode Myrhol	none	0	3 / 574	17 / 574

Major/parliamentary parties

• Centre (Centrum) (1893–1903)
• Coalition Party (Samlingspartiet) (1903–09)
• Free-minded Liberal Party (Frisinnede Venstre) (1909–45)
• Future for Finnmark (Framtid for Finnmark) (1989–93)
• Labour Democrats/Radical People's Party (Arbeiderdemokratene/Radikale Folkeparti) (1906–36)
• Liberal People's Party (Det Liberale Folkepartiet) (1972–88)
• Liberal People's Party (Det Liberale Folkepartiet) (1992-2017)
• Moderate Liberal Party (Moderate Venstre) (1888–1906)
• Nasjonal Samling (1933–45), collaborationist party, only legal party 1940–45, banned
• Red Electoral Alliance (Rød Valgallianse) (1973–2007)
• Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway (Norges Socialdemokratiske Arbeiderparti) (1921–27)
• Socialist People's Party (Sosialistisk Folkeparti) (1961–76)
• Society Party (Samfundspartiet) (1932–49)

Minor parties

• National Socialist Workers' Party of Norway (Norges Nasjonalsocialistiske Arbeiderparti) (1930–40), extraparliamentary
• Fatherland League (Fedrelandslaget) (1933–40 as political party)
• Democratic Party of Norway (Norges Demokratiske Parti) (1965–c.79)
• Workers' Communist Party (Arbeidernes Kommunistparti) (1973–2007), extraparliamentary
• Reform Party (Reformpartiet) (1974–75)
• Norwegian Front/National People's Party (Norsk Front/Nasjonalt Folkeparti) (1975–91), extraparliamentary
• Stop Immigration (Stopp Innvandringen) (1987–95), Anti-immigration
• Christian Conservative Party (Kristent Konservativt Parti) (1989–98)
• National Democrats (Nasjonaldemokratene) (1990–c.91), Anti-immigration
• Fatherland Party (Fedrelandspartiet) (1990–2008), county representation, Euroscepticism, Anti-immigration
• Natural Law Party (Naturlovpartiet) (1993, last active 2001)
• New Future Coalition Party (Samlingspartiet Ny Fremtid) (1993–98)
• White Electoral Alliance (Hvit Valgallianse) (1995–97), Anti-immigration
• Non-Partisan Deputies (Tverrpolitisk folkevalgte) (1997, last active 2009)
• Norwegian People's Party (Norsk Folkeparti) (1999, last active 2003), Anti-immigration
• National Alliance (Norway) (1999-2006), Anti-immigration
• The Political Party (Det Politiske Parti) (2001)
• Reform Party (Reformpartiet) (2004–09)
• Abortion Opponents' List (Abortmotstandernes Liste) (c.2005, last active 2009)
• Norwegian Patriots (2007–08), Anti-immigration
• Vigrid (2008–09 as political party)

See also

• List of political parties by country
• Parliament of Norway
• Politics of Norway

References

1. http://www.skoleforum.com/stiler/annet/det.aspx?id=6228%5B%5D
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. Heywood, Andrew (2017). Political Ideologies: An Introduction. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 93.
8. "Hvem er vi? - Liberalistene". Archived from the original on 2015-09-02. Retrieved 30 May 2015.

External links

• w2.brreg.no
• NSD: European Election Database - Political parties of Norway