1.
Norway
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The Antarctic Peter I Island and the sub-Antarctic Bouvet Island are dependent territories and thus not considered part of the Kingdom. Norway also lays claim to a section of Antarctica known as Queen Maud Land, until 1814, the kingdom included the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Iceland. It also included Isle of Man until 1266, Shetland and Orkney until 1468, Norway has a total area of 385,252 square kilometres and a population of 5,258,317. The country shares a long border with Sweden. Norway is bordered by Finland and Russia to the north-east, Norway has an extensive coastline, facing the North Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. King Harald V of the Dano-German House of Glücksburg is the current King of Norway, erna Solberg became Prime Minister in 2013, replacing Jens Stoltenberg. A constitutional monarchy, Norway divides state power between the Parliament, the Cabinet and the Supreme Court, as determined by the 1814 Constitution, the kingdom is established as a merger of several petty kingdoms. By the traditional count from the year 872, the kingdom has existed continuously for 1,144 years, Norway has both administrative and political subdivisions on two levels, counties and municipalities. The Sámi people have an amount of self-determination and influence over traditional territories through the Sámi Parliament. Norway maintains close ties with the European Union and the United States, the country maintains a combination of market economy and a Nordic welfare model with universal health care and a comprehensive social security system. Norway has extensive reserves of petroleum, natural gas, minerals, lumber, seafood, the petroleum industry accounts for around a quarter of the countrys gross domestic product. On a per-capita basis, Norway is the worlds largest producer of oil, the country has the fourth-highest per capita income in the world on the World Bank and IMF lists. On the CIAs GDP per capita list which includes territories and some regions, from 2001 to 2006, and then again from 2009 to 2017, Norway had the highest Human Development Index ranking in the world. It also has the highest inequality-adjusted ranking, Norway ranks first on the World Happiness Report, the OECD Better Life Index, the Index of Public Integrity and the Democracy Index. Norway has two names, Noreg in Nynorsk and Norge in Bokmål. The name Norway comes from the Old English word Norðrveg mentioned in 880, meaning way or way leading to the north. In contrasting with suðrvegar southern way for Germany, and austrvegr eastern way for the Baltic, the Anglo-Saxon of Britain also referred to the kingdom of Norway in 880 as Norðmanna land. This was the area of Harald Fairhair, the first king of Norway, and because of him
2.
Politics of Norway
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Politics in Norway take place in the framework of a parliamentary representative democratic constitutional monarchy. Executive power is exercised by the Kings council, the cabinet, legislative power is vested in both the government and the Storting, elected within a multi-party system. The Judiciary is independent of the branch and the legislature. The Norwegian constitution, signed by the Eidsvoll assembly on 17 May 1814, the 1814 constitution granted rights such as freedom of speech and rule of law. This parliamentary rule has the status of constitutional custom, all new laws are passed and all new governments are therefore formed de jure by the King, although not de facto. Changes to the Court of Impeachment, parliamentary system now part of the Constitution Norway is a constitutional monarchy, where the King has a mainly symbolic power. The Royal House is a branch of the family of Glücksburg. The functions of the King, Harald V, are mainly ceremonial, although the constitution of 1814 grants important executive powers to the King, these are always exercised by the Council of State in the name of the King. The King is also High Protector of the Church of Norway, Grand Master of The Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav, the Council of State is formally convened by the reigning monarch. The Council of State consists of a Prime Minister and his/her council, parliamentarism has evolved since 1884 and entails that the cabinet must not have the parliament against it, and that the appointment by the King is a formality. The council must have the confidence of the Norwegian legislative body, in practice, the monarch will ask the leader of a parliamentary block that has a majority in the Storting to form a government. After elections resulting in no clear majority to any party or coalition, since World War II, most non-Socialist governments have been coalitions, and Labour Party governments have often relied on the support of other parties to retain the necessary parliamentary votes. Labour formed their first brief minority government in 1928 which lasted for 18 days only, after the 1936 election the Labour Party formed a new minority government, which had to go into exile 1940–45 because of the German occupation of Norway. After a brief trans-party government following the German capitulation in 1945, Norway was ruled by Labour governments from 1945 to 1981, except for three periods. The Labour Party had a party majority in the Storting from 1945 to 1961. Since then no party has formed a majority government, hence minority. From 1981 to 1997, governments alternated between minority Labour governments and Conservative-led centre-right governments, the centre-right governments gained power in 3 out of 4 elections during this period, whereas Labour toppled those governments twice between elections and stayed in power after one election. Elections take place in September and governments change in October of election years, Conservative leader Kåre Willoch formed a minority government after the election of 1981
3.
Constitution of Norway
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The Constitution of Norway was first adopted on 16 May and subsequently signed and dated on 17 May 1814 by the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll. 17 May is the National Day of Norway, during May 2014 the Storting passed the most substantial changes since 1814, particularly by including paragraphs on human rights. The most likely goal of the young Crown Prince was reunification with Denmark and his initiative was successful, and a national assembly at Eidsvoll was called. The assembled representatives were elected by the congregations of the church throughout Norway. They convened at the Eidsvoll manor on 10 April, during five weeks of the spring of 1814, the constitution was written. The constitution was ratified by the assembly on 16 May, and signed the following day, the Norwegian constitution was inspired by the United States Declaration of Independence in 1776 and the French revolution in 1789 and the subsequent U. S. and French constitutions. The authors Christian Magnus Falsen and Johan Gunder Adler were also influenced by the Spanish Constitution of 1812, a deviation from the republican constitutions of France and the USA was the retention of monarchy. Importing republicanism was seen as an attempt to emulate the French and Americans directly, the choice of monarchy as state form would also facilitate reunification of Denmark-Norway, something the Crown Prince was not alone in seeking. The kings power was severely curtailed. His absolute veto over laws was removed, the council of Eidsvoll chose, not surprisingly, Crown Prince Christian Frederik as king. He was thus chosen, and as such a king by the will of the rather than by the grace of God. In a Europe where almost all countries were ruled by absolute monarchy, diriks is credited with formulating §100, concerning freedom of speech, and §102, guarding against unreasonable searches and seizures. The constitution shows a mix of radical and traditional values. The principle of separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches was directly inspired by ideas from the US. Suffrage was extended, but was restricted to certain groups of men. All men who were either farmers possessing their own land, civil servants, with this, about half of all Norwegian men were granted the right to vote. The young king and Norwegian officials tried to find backing for their bid for Norway as a sovereign state throughout spring. After failing to secure the support of the United Kingdom, war with Sweden became unavoidable, the Swedish Campaign against Norway was short and decisive
4.
Monarchy of Norway
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The Norwegian monarch is the monarchical head of state of Norway, which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system. The present monarch is King Harald V, who has reigned since 17 January 1991, succeeding his father, the heir apparent is his only son, Crown Prince Haakon. The crown prince undertakes various public functions, as does the kings wife. The crown prince also acts as regent in the kings absence, there are several other members of the Royal Family, including the kings daughter, grandchildren and siblings. Whilst the Constitution of Norway grants important executive powers to the King, formally the King appoints the government according to his own judgement, but parliamentary practice has been in place since 1884. Constitutional practice has replaced the meaning of the word King in most articles of the constitution from the king personally to the elected government. The powers vested in the monarch are significant, but are treated only as reserve powers, the King does not, by convention, have direct participation in government. He ratifies laws and royal resolutions, receives and sends envoys from and to foreign countries and he has a more tangible influence as the symbol of national unity. The annual New Years Eve speech is one occasion when the King traditionally raises negative issues, the King is also Supreme Commander of the Norwegian Armed Forces and Grand Master of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav and of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit. The King has no role in the Church of Norway. The position of King of Norway has been in existence since the unification of Norway in 872. In recent years members of the Socialist Left party have proposed the abolition of the monarchy during each new session of parliament and this gives the Norwegian monarchy the unique status of being a popularly elected royal family and receiving regular formal confirmations of support from the Storting. Prior to and in the phase of the Viking Age Norway was divided into several smaller kingdoms. Harald Fairhair was the first king of Norway, the boundaries of Fairhairs kingdom were not identical to those of present-day Norway, and upon his death the kingship was shared among his sons. Some historians emphasise the actual control over the country and assert that Olaf II, alias Saint Olaf. Olaf is generally held to have been the force behind Norways final conversion to Christianity. In the 12th and 13th centuries the Norwegian kingdom was at its geographical and cultural peak, the kingdom included Norway, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Shetland, Orkney and other smaller areas in the British Isles. The king had diplomatic relations with most of the European kingdoms and formed alliances with Scotland and Castile, large castles such as Haakons Hall and cathedrals, the foremost being Nidaros Cathedral, were built
5.
Harald V of Norway
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Harald V is the King of Norway, having ascended the throne following the death of his father on 17 January 1991. Harald was the child and only son of Olav V of Norway. He was second in the line of succession at the time of his birth, in 1940, as a result of the German occupation during World War II, the royal family went into exile. Harald spent part of his childhood in Sweden and the United States and he returned to Norway in 1945, and subsequently studied for periods at the University of Oslo, the Norwegian Military Academy, and Balliol College, Oxford. In 1957, following the death of his grandfather, Haakon VII, a keen sportsman, he represented Norway in sailing at the 1964,1968, and 1972 Olympic Games, and later became patron of World Sailing. Harald married Sonja Haraldsen in 1968, with their relationship initially being controversial due to her status as a commoner, the couple had two children, Märtha and Haakon. Harald succeeded his father as king in 1991, with Haakon becoming his heir apparent, Prince Harald was born in Skaugum and was baptized in the Royal Chapel in the Royal Palace in Oslo on 31 March 1937 by Bishop Johan Lunde. His parents already had two daughters, Princess Ragnhild and Princess Astrid, in 1940 the entire royal family had to flee Oslo because of the German invasion. It was deemed safer for the family to split up, the King and Crown Prince Olav would remain in Norway and the Crown Princess was to make her way to Sweden with the three children. The latter party reached Sweden on the night of 10 April, according to Princess Astrid and others who were present, they were admitted only after the driver threatened to ram the border gate. Another account does not describe the escape so dramatically, however, when the King and Crown Prince inquired of Swedish foreign minister Christian Günther whether they could sleep one night in Sweden without being interned, they were denied. Harald spent the days in Sälen before moving to Prince Carl Bernadottes home in Frötuna on 16 April. On 26 April the group moved to Drottningholm in Stockholm, King Gustaf V has been accounted to have had an amicable relationship with his Norwegian guests, but the topic of the war in Norway was not to be raised. However, influential Swedish politicians, including Minister of Justice Westman, wanted the Crown Princess and Prince Harald to be sent back to Norway so he could be proclaimed King by the Germans. After the King and Crown Prince had to leave Norway on 7 June they felt Sweden might not be the best place for the rest of the family, and started planning for them to go to the United States. On 17 August the Crown Princess and her left for the United States from Petsamo, Finland. One of the events he remembers from that time is standing behind Franklin D. Roosevelt when he was sworn in for his fourth term on the South Portico of the White House in 1945. Such childhood experiences are reflected in a trace of an American accent when he speaks English, Harald visited Norwegian servicemen training in the United States
6.
Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway
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Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway is the only son and younger child of King Harald V and heir apparent to the throne of Norway. In 2001, Haakon married Mette-Marit Høiby with whom he has two children and he has an older sister, Princess Märtha Louise. In accordance with Norways agnatic primogeniture succession, Haakon became crown prince when his father ascended the throne in 1991, the Skaugum Estate, situated in the area of Semsvannet, is the official residence of the Norwegian Crown Prince and the Crown Princess. He is a Young Global Leader, Haakon was born in 20 July 1973 at Rikshospitalet the Oslo University Hospital in Oslo, the only son and younger child of King Harald V and Queen Sonja. At birth he was named Haakon Magnus, and it was stressed in the announcement that he would go by the name Haakon, Haakon has one sibling, Princess Märtha Louise. This was not, however, done retroactively, meaning that Haakon continues to take precedence over his older sister, Haakon has served in the Royal Norwegian Navy, where he undertook his first-level officers education at the Norwegian Naval Academy. This was then followed with a year aboard missile torpedo boats and he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1999. Haakon later attended lectures at the University of Oslo and took the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs civil servant introductory course in 2001. He completed his education in 2003 at the London School of Economics, as of 15 November 2013, in the Royal Norwegian Navy his officer rank is Admiral, and in the Norwegian Army and the Royal Norwegian Air Force his rank is General. Haakon married commoner and single mother Mette-Marit Tjessem Høiby on 25 August 2001, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark was the best man. When the engagement between Crown Prince Haakon and Høiby was announced, many Norwegians felt that his choice of wife was inappropriate. This was primarily about her being a mother, but information concerning her involvement in the rave scene in Oslo. In addition, the father of her child was convicted of drug-related offenses, in a heartfelt press conference before the wedding the bride explained her past, saying among other things that her youthful rebelliousness might have been stronger than most young people. The issue of Mette-Marits past has largely been laid to rest in Norwegian public discourse, the couple have two children together, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus. Haakon is also the stepfather to Mette-Marits son, Marius Borg Høiby, from 25 November 2003 to 12 April 2004, Haakon was the Regent of Norway during the Kings treatment for cancer and the subsequent convalescence period. Likewise, Haakon was Regent from 29 March 2005 until the King had fully recovered from the surgery he underwent on 1 April. This period ended on 7 June, in addition to his official duties, Haakon has a strong interest in cultural matters. In January 2006, Haakon revised his patronage list and he now has twelve patronage roles in his portfolio including the annual Bjørnson literary festival
7.
Council of State (Norway)
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The council simultaneously plays the role of privy council as well as government Cabinet. The Cabinet normally convenes every week, usually on Fridays at 11,00 a. m. at the Royal Palace, Oslo, under the 1814 Constitution of Norway, the third-oldest national Constitution still in operation, the King is the head of the executive branch of Norway. The parliamentary system of Norway entails that the Cabinet must not have Parliament against it, the members making up the Council of State require the confidence of the Norwegian legislative body, known as the Storting. In practice, the monarch will ask the leader of a block that has a majority in the Storting to form a government. After elections resulting in no clear majority to any party or coalition, in practice, this means that the function, authority and mandate of the Council of State is heavily influenced by long-standing conventions. Theoretically, the Royal Resolutions themselves are the Kings decisions, but are practically those of the government, however, they require the contra-signature of the Prime Minister, or, in cases relating to military command, of the Minister of Defence in order to be valid. Later, entire records from the proceedings of the Council of State is signed by all its members, the responsibility rests with his Council. Another feature of system is that the King, when having sanctioned a decision, is referred to as King-in-Council. Whilst not prescribed in the Constitution, the signing of bills, the Article continues by stating that a Member who has not voiced such objections is liable of impeachment by the Storting should a decision made in the Council of State later be found unlawful. For the same reason, the aforesaid Article prescribes that all of the made in the Council of State shall be put down in official records. Whilst most members of the Cabinet originate from within the Storting and will have their seats deputised during their time in office, however, since the introduction of parliamentarism in 1884, all members of the Cabinet must have the express support of the legislature. In addition, they must hold Norwegian citizenship and be eligible to vote, until a 2012 amendment, there was a requirement that a majority of the members had to be affiliated with the Church of Norway, the national state church. When church matters are on the table, all members of the Cabinet not registered with the Church would not be in attendance, the King established on 1 July 1993 an Order of precedence to direct seating and ranking on formal occasions. Here, the Minister of Finance enjoys the foremost rank after the Prime Minister, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs only coming in third, behind the minister of Agriculture and Food. Article in a Norwegian online encyclopedia Information from the web site of the Norwegian monarchy Official web portal of the Norwegian government
8.
Solberg's Cabinet
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Solbergs Cabinet is the incumbent Government of the Kingdom of Norway. The Government was appointed by the King on 16 October 2013 following the election on 9 September. On 16 December 2015, the cabinet was re-shuffled, the Government is the first in which the Progress Party participates. By convention, a Norwegian government is named after the Prime Minister. The Government, however, has referred to itself as the Høyre Frp Cabinet. Informally, it is called the Blue Cabinet and even the Blue Blue Cabinet, referring to Høyres light blue, on 16 October 2013, Erna Solbergs cabinet ministers were formally appointed by the King Harald V. The Cabinet has 18 ministers, two fewer than the previous Stoltenberg cabinet and it has eleven ministers from the Conservatives and seven from Progress, reflecting the parties numerical strength in Parliament. The cabinet has nine men and nine women, the average age at the start is 43. Six ministers have studies in economics, four are jurists and four have studies in the humanities or social sciences, seven ministers hail from Western Norway, including Listhaug who now represents Oslo. Seven ministers represent Eastern Norway, three ministers represent Trøndelag, one Northern Norway and one Sørlandet, siv Jensen is the only minister who was born and grew up in Oslo. On 16 December 2015, Solberg made a cabinet reshuffle, the reshuffle increased the number of cabinet ministers from 18 to 20. Three cabinet ministers were replaced on 20 December 2016
9.
Prime Minister of Norway
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For a list, see List of heads of government of Norway. The Prime Minister of Norway is the leader of Norway. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Monarch, to the Storting, to their political party, and ultimately the electorate. In practice, since it is impossible for a government to stay in office against the will of the Storting. Norway has a Constitution, which was adopted on 17 May 1814, the position of Prime Minister is the result of legislation. As of 2017, the Prime Minister of Norway is Erna Solberg, unlike their counterparts in the rest of Europe, Norwegian Prime Ministers do not have the option of advising the King to dissolve the Storting and call a snap election. The Constitution requires that the Storting serve out its full four-year term, if the Prime Minister loses the confidence of the Storting, he or she must resign. As of 2015 six former Prime Ministers are alive, Odvar Nordli born 3 November 1927, kåre Willoch born 3 October 1928, served 1981–1986. Gro Harlem Brundtland born 20 April 1939, served 1981, 1986–1989, kjell Magne Bondevik born 3 September 1947, served 1997–2000 and 2001–2005. Thorbjørn Jagland born 5 November 1950, served 1996–1997, jens Stoltenberg born 16 March 1959, served 2000–2001 and 2005–2013. List of Prime Ministers of Norway Regjeringskvartalet Government Official Homepage
10.
Erna Solberg
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Erna Solberg is a Norwegian politician who has been Prime Minister of Norway since October 2013 and Leader of the Conservative Party since May 2004. Solberg has served as a member of the Storting since 1989 and served as Minister of Local Government, in her term as minister, she oversaw the tightening of immigration policy and the preparation of a proposed reform of the administrative divisions of Norway. After the 2005 election, she chaired the Conservative Party parliamentary group until 2013, Solberg has emphasized the social and ideological basis of the Conservative policies, although the party also has become visibly more pragmatic. After winning the September 2013 election, she became the second female Prime Minister of Norway, solbergs Cabinet, often referred to informally as the Blue-Blue Cabinet, is a two-party minority government consisting of the Conservative Party and Progress Party. The cabinet has established a formalized co-operation with the non-socialist Liberal Party, Solberg was born in Bergen in western Norway and grew up in the affluent Kalfaret neighbourhood. Her father, Asbjørn Solberg, worked as a consultant in the Bergen Sporvei, Solberg has two sisters, one older than her and one younger. Solberg had some struggles at school and at the age 16 was diagnosed as suffering from dyslexia and she was, nevertheless, an active and talkative contributor in the classroom. In 1986, she graduated with her cand. mag, degree in sociology, political science, statistics and economics from the University of Bergen. In her final year, she led the Students League of the Conservative Party in Bergen. Since 1996 she has married to Sindre Finnes, a businessman and former Conservative Party politician. The family has lived in both Bergen and Oslo, Solberg was a deputy member of Bergen city council in the periods 1979–1983 and 1987–1989, the last period on the executive committee. She chaired local and municipal chapters of the Young Conservatives and the Conservative Party and she was first elected to the Storting from Hordaland in 1989 and has been re-elected on five occasions. She was also the leader of the national Conservative Womens Association, from 2001 to 2005 Solberg served as the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development under Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik. Her alleged tough policies in this department, including a firm stance on asylum policy, in fact, numbers show that the Bondevik government, of 2001–2005, actually let in thousands more asylum seekers than the subsequent centre-left Red-Green government, of 2005–2009. As Minister, Solberg instructed the Norwegian Directorate of Immigration to expel Mulla Krekar, later, terrorism charges were filed against Krekar for a death threat he uttered in 2010 against Erna Solberg. She served as deputy leader of the Conservative Party from 2002 to 2004 and, in 2004, Solberg became the presumptive head of government after winning the general election on 9 September 2013 and was appointed Prime Minister on 16 October 2013. Solberg is Norways second female Prime Minister after Gro Harlem Brundtland, later on, the four took a picture which appeared on the Government. no website on 14 March the same year. In April of the year she criticized European Court over data retention which Telenor Group argued can be used without court proceedings
11.
Storting
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The Storting is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. The unicameral parliament has 169 members, and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional representation in nineteen plural member constituencies, a member of the Storting is known in Norwegian as a Stortingsrepresentant, literally Storting representative. The assembly is led by a president and, since 2009 five vice presidents — the presidium, the members are allocated to twelve standing committees, as well as four procedural committees. Three ombudsmen are directly subordinate to parliament, the Parliamentary Intelligence Oversight Committee, in 2009, qualified unicameralism was replaced by unicameralism, through the dissolution of the two chambers, the Lagting and the Odelsting. Since 2013 Olemic Thommessen has been president, the alltings were where legal and political matters were discussed. As oral laws became codified and Norway unified as an entity in the 10th century. The Parliament of Norway Building opened in 1866, on 27 June 1940 the presidium signed an appeal to King Haakon, about his abdication. In September 1940 the representatives were summoned to Oslo, and voted in favour of the results of the negotiations between the presidium and the authorities of the German invaders, however, directives from Adolf Hitler resulted in the obstruction of the agreement of cooperation between parliament and occupation force. Although the Storting has always been unicameral, until 2009 it would divide itself into two departments in legislative matters. After elections, the Storting would elect a quarter of its membership to form the Lagting a sort of upper house, the division was also used on very rare occasions in cases of impeachment. The original idea in 1814 was probably to have the Lagting act as an upper house. Bills were submitted by the Government to the Odelsting or by a member of the Odelsting, a standing committee, with members from both the Odelsting and Lagting, would then consider the bill, and in some cases hearings were held. If passed by the Odelsting, the bill would be sent to the Lagting for review or revision, most bills were passed unamended by the Lagting and then sent directly to the king for royal assent. If the Lagting amended the Odelstings decision, the bill would be sent back to the Odelsting, if the Odelsting approved the Lagtings amendments, the bill would be signed into law by the King. If it did not, then the bill would return to the Lagting, if the Lagting still proposed amendments, the bill would be submitted a plenary session of the Storting. In order to be passed, the bill should have then had the approval of a majority of the plenary session. In all other cases a majority would suffice. Three days had to pass between each time a department voted on a bill, in all other cases, such as taxes and appropriations, the Storting would meet in plenary sessions
12.
Olemic Thommessen
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Olaf Michael Olemic Thommessen is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party and the President of the Storting since 8 October 2013. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Oppland in 2001 and he previously served as a deputy representative during the term 1993–1997. Thommessen was a member of Lillehammer municipality council from 1987 to 1995
13.
Norwegian parliamentary election, 2013
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A parliamentary election was held in Norway on 8 and 9 September 2013. The centre-right coalition obtained 96 seats, while the incumbent red–green coalition government obtained 72 seats, the Labour Party won the largest share of the votes cast, with the Conservatives coming second, after increasing their share by 9.6 percentage points. Elections in Norway are held on a Monday in September, usually the second or third Monday, in 2013 the election was held on the second Monday. Each municipality was permitted to some or all of its polling stations on the day before the nationwide election day. This option was exercised by 206 of the 428 municipalities, the main period for early voting was 12 August to 6 September, it was also possible to make an even earlier vote after 1 July by contacting the municipal government. Had he been re-elected, Stoltenberg would have been the first prime minister in Norway to be elected for three consecutive terms, the election ended with a victory for the four opposition right-of-center parties, which won a total of 96 seats out of 169. The Labour Party, however, remained the largest party in parliament with 30. 8% of the popular vote, the Progress Party also lost ground, but nevertheless became a participant in the new government. Among the smaller parties, the centrist Liberal Party and Christian Democrats emerged holding the balance of power, both had campaigned for a change in government. On 30 September the two announced that they would support a minority coalition of the Conservative and Progress parties. The two smaller members of the red–green coalition both lost ground, the Centre Party lost only one seat and maintained a sizable parliamentary delegation, while the Socialist Left Party only narrowly reached the election threshold of 4%. The Green Party, which had not declared support for either bloc, the election used party-list proportional representation in nineteen multi-member constituencies, one for each of the counties of Norway. The number of members to be returned from each constituency varies between 4 and 19, to determine the apportionment of the 169 seats amongst the 19 counties, a two-tier formula is used, based on population and geographic size. Each inhabitant counts one point, while each square kilometer counts 1.8 points,150 of the seats are regular district seats. These are awarded based on the results in each county. Nineteen of the seats are leveling seats which are given to parties that win fewer seats than their share of the popular vote entitles them to. A party must win 4% of the vote in order to win compensation seats. The total number of seats in the parliament remained unchanged at 169, hedmark, Sogn og Fjordane, Nord-Trøndelag, Nordland and Troms all lost one seat each. Akershus, Hordaland and Rogaland gained one each, whilst Oslo gained two, the Labour Party was the largest party in the 2009–2013 Storting, and the majority party in Stoltenbergs Second Cabinet
14.
Norwegian parliamentary election, 2009
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The 2009 parliamentary election was held in Norway on 13 and 14 September 2009. Elections in Norway are held on a Monday in September, usually the second or third Monday, early voting was possible between 10 August and 11 September 2009, while some municipalities also held open voting on 13 September. Voters elected 169 members for the Storting, each for a four-year term, voter turn-out in the 2009 general elections was 76. 4%. Candidates were elected on party lists in each of the 19 counties, the political parties nominated candidates for these lists during late 2008 and early 2009. The party lists had to be registered by 31 March 2009, although the opposition received more votes, the governing Red-Green Coalition obtained more seats in parliament. This allowed Jens Stoltenberg to continue as prime minister, further to the right, both the Conservative Party and Progress Party increased their number of seats in parliament. The centrist Liberal Party failed to meet the threshold of 4. 0%. For the purposes of elections, Norway is divided into 19 constituencies corresponding to the counties, including the municipal authority of Oslo. The number of members to be returned from each constituency varies from 3 to 16, according to the population and area of the county. Norway has capped the number of fixed seats at 150 and, to determine how to apportion those amongst the 19 counties, it uses a formula based on population. Each inhabitant counts one point, while each square kilometer counts 1.8 points, by early 2008, the Norwegian media were already speculating about possible outcomes of the election, and politicians were making statements about their preferred coalition partners. No single party has had a majority in the Norwegian parliament since 1961, and he added that the Red-Green coalition was losing its faith in the continued majority. It does something to you and your desire for power, in an opinion poll in December 2008, 55% of the Norwegian people had most faith in the Red-Green Coalition government to lead Norway out of the financial crisis. According to various opinion poll measurements, by late 2008 the Norwegian Labour Party was no longer the largest party in Norway, the Norstat poll for the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation showed the Progress Party at 30. 6%, while the Labour Party had declined to 26%. By September 2008 Labour had increased to 29. 5%, while the Progress Party decreased to 29. 2%, by early September, an opinion poll by Synovate put the Labour Party at 33. 8%, while the Progress Party had continued to decrease to 21. 4%. Two out of three Norwegians claimed that they agreed with the new tightening of the immigration policy, the consequences were less clear if the ruling coalition were to lose its majority—the coalition was unlikely to remain in power as a minority government. The Norwegian newspaper, Verdens Gang claimed in March 2008 that the Labour Party could form a minority government on its own if the coalition should lose its parliamentary majority. The county mayor of Sør-Trøndelag, Tore O. Sandvik, was quoted as supporting this option, during a debate, however, Stoltenberg said that a non-socialist majority would yield a non-socialist government
15.
Norwegian parliamentary election, 2005
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Parliamentary elections were held in Norway on 11 and 12 September 2005. The result was a victory for the opposition centre-left Red-Green Coalition, the three-party centre-right government coalition won 44 seats and the right wing Progress Party won 38, becoming the largest opposition party. Voter turnout was 77. 1%, an increase of 2 percentage points compared to the 2001 elections, between them, the three main parties of the coalition held 62 seats in the outgoing 165-seat Storting. The Progress Party held an additional 26, giving the four parties a majority when acting together, amidst a decline in the personal popularity of the prime minister, opinion polls in early 2005 indicated a clear lead for the Labour Party. Its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, was minister from March 2000 to October 2001. Polling suggests that the Labour, Socialist Left and Centre parties could form a red–green coalition, Labour and Socialist Left have pledged to maintain their allegiance with the Centre party even if the latter were not necessary to obtain a majority. In June the leader of the Progress Party, Carl I, a week before the elections, the Socialist Left Party experienced a fall in popularity on recent polls. The Liberals and Conservative Party gained popularity on the polls, as of 11 September 2005, the day before the election, the opinion polls indicated a dead run between the red-green coalition and the right wing. Advance voting was possible from 10 August to 9 September 2005,452,488 votes were cast in advance, a decrease of approx 52,000 since the 2001 election. The Labour Party obtained a result that brought it back into the position of the largest Norwegian party, the Progress Party obtained its best result ever, surpassing the Conservatives by a large margin and becoming almost as large as the parties in the Bondevik government combined. The Liberal Party gained an amount of seats in its most successful election since 1965. Venstre got six direct regional mandates and four allocated additional mandates, the Socialist Left Party obtained only a disappointing result, after polls that showed the party well beyond 15% at times during the electoral campaign. The Conservative Party lost a large share of votes and are no longer the largest non-Socialist party, the Christian Democratic Party almost halved its votes, and suffered one of the worst defeats ever. The Coastal Party lost its representative in the parliament. The Red Electoral Alliance did not manage to obtain a seat in the parliament, complete, official results from the website of the Norwegian parliament, stortinget. no, in Norwegian. Leftist Coalition Seems to Be the Winner in Norways Election, Labour Down, Progress Party Surges in Norway. Norway — Red–Green Alliance could get majority, Left wing alliance advances despite Labour retreat. Norways Storting Election of September 2005, Back to the Left
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Norwegian local elections, 2011
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Nationwide local elections for seats in municipality and county councils were held throughout Norway on 12 September 2011. Several municipalities also opened the polling booths on 11 September, for most polling stations this meant that two elections, the municipal elections and the county elections ran concurrently. In addition, a referendum was held in Aust-Agder to determine whether to merge the county with Vest-Agder. Overall, the Conservative Party made the greatest gains, and the Labour Party also advanced and remained the largest party, on the other hand, the Progress Party and the Socialist Left Party suffered severe setbacks. Three municipalities had applied for this in the 2007 election, but were turned down, parliament decided to give adolescents of age 16 and 17 the right to vote in selected municipalities. Of 143 applicants,20 municipalities plus Longyearbyen on Svalbard were selected for the trial. The issue of how and when the campaign would be conducted was affected by the 2011 Norway attacks on 22 July, liv Signe Navarsete predicted that the election campaign would be considerably muted. On 25 July, the leaders of the political parties agreed to delay the start of the campaign until mid-August and to cancel the school debates. The school elections were, however, not cancelled, one of the bigger issues for the local elections was a controversy about local hospitals in Møre og Romsdal, involving the cities Molde and Kristiansund which has hospitals today. In early 2011, the Labour Party saw a shock opinion poll in Romsdal of a mere 5. 8% support, which fell further in April to 1%. The handling of the controversy by the party, and particularly its Minister of Health and Care Services, 1This was the first poll since the attacks in Norway
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Norwegian local elections, 2007
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Country-wide local elections for seats in municipality and county councils were held throughout Norway on 10 September 2007, with some areas polling on 9 September as well. For most places this meant that two elections, the elections and the county elections ran concurrently. In addition, several municipalities held direct mayoral elections, a new rule required voters to produce an identity document in order to vote. This change was criticized by the Red Electoral Alliance who argued that people without such documents would be unable to afford such a document. The minister in charge of the election, Åslaug Haga, prompted the election authorities to exercise discretion. It was also not necessary to have if the ballot recipient knew the voter. Ahead of the election, it was feared that turnout would be lower than the 59% of the 2003 local elections. Even so, a few days before the voting deadline had past, about 291,200 ballots had been cast prior to the election. The final result showed a turnout of 61. 7% in the municipal election,2,209,706 valid votes were cast for the municipal elections, a turnout of 61, 7%. These are the results, In the large cities, Oslo. The Labour Party enjoyed significant gains in Trondheim and Tromsø, a Conservative-Labour coalition will share the power in Stavanger and Kristiansand. 2,076,609 valid votes were cast for the county elections and these are the aggregate results, For the country at large, the Socialist Left Partys popularity plummeted, and the result was described as a catastrophe. Most other main line parties could log slight gains or a result comparable with the previous election, part of the explanation for SVs poor performance has been laid on their performance in the cabinet. In particular Helen Bjørnøy, the minister of environmental affairs, and Øystein Djupedal, Bjørnøy has been well respected, but has suffered due to having to make compromises on environmental issues, in particular to the Centre Party which favors rural development, often over conservation. Also, SVs party leader and Norways minister of finance, Kristin Halvorsen has been behind some unpopular economic measures, there were also allegations that Gilani had escorted voters into the election booths. Another allegation was that a person who declined a bribe to vote in this manner was subjected to death threats, the police investigating the allegations indicated that electoral fraud had indeed taken place, Gilani was asked by his party to take a leave from his political duties. Gilani took a leave, and both he and the Labour Party have stated that this was a decision made on Gilanis initiative, Gilani himself reported the case to the police, denying any wrongdoing and stating his belief that the incident was part of a smear campaign. Gilani also reported death threats and incidents of harassment directed against him during the run-up to the election
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Administrative divisions of Norway
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Norways elongated shape, numerous geographical barriers, and distributed population barriers has led to a number of conventions for its subdivisions. These have changed somewhat over time, and various reforms are under continuous consideration, the political administration of Norway takes place at three levels, Kingdom, covering all of metropolitan Norway including its integral overseas areas of Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Whereas Svalbard is subject to a treaty with some limits to Norwegian sovereignty. Counties, known in Norwegian as fylker, of which there are 19 and these derive in part from divisions that preceded Norways constitution in 1814 and independence in 1905. The counties also function as constituencies during elections for Parliament, municipalities, known in Norwegian as kommuner of which there are 430. In addition the Longyearbyen local authority has some similarieties with a municipality, external dependencies As infrastructure for travel and communication has improved over the years, the benefits of consolidation are under ongoing discussion. The number of municipalities has decreased from 744 in the early 1960s to todays number, similarly, the political responsibilities of the counties has been decreased, and there was talk of combining them into 5–9 regions by 2010. These plans were, however, recently abandoned, within the government administration, there are a few exceptions to the county subdivision, The Norwegian court system is divided into six appellate districts. The state Church of Norway is divided into eleven dioceses, the 13 constituencies for elections to the Sámi Parliament of Norway, which is a part of the Norwegian state apparatus, do not follow the county borders - sometimes encompassing several counties. They do, however, follow municipality borders, a county municipality is the public elected body that is responsible for certain public administrative and service tasks within a county. Each county is governed as a county municipality, with the exception of Oslo, the main body of each county municipality is the county council, elected by direct election by all legal residents every fourth year. The county councils typically have 30-50 members and meet six times a year. They are divided into standing committees and a board, that meet considerably more often. Both the council and executive board are led by the Chairman of the County Council or County Mayor, the national government, formally the King, is represented in each county by a county governor. This office mainly function as an authority over the county and municipality administrations. Law enforcement and church services are provided at a level in Norway. The main body of municipality is the municipality council, elected by direct election by all legal residents every fourth year. Three municipalities, Oslo, Bergen and Stavanger, are divided into boroughs, in Oslo and Stavanger, they elect their own political council
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Counties of Norway
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Norway is divided into 19 administrative regions, called counties, until 1918, they were known as amter. The counties form the first-level subdivisions of Norway and are divided into 428 municipalities. Svalbard and Jan Mayen are outside the county division and ruled directly on national level, the capital Oslo is considered both a county and a municipality. In 2017 the government decided to abolish the current counties and to them with fewer, larger administrative regions. Below is a list of the Norwegian counties as they have been since 1919, note that the counties are administered both by appointees of the national government and to a lesser extent by their own elected bodies. The county numbers are from the numbering system ISO 3166-2, NO. The number 13 was dropped from the system when the city of Bergen was merged into Hordaland in 1972, from the consolidation to a single kingdom, Norway was divided into a number of geographic regions that had its own legislative assembly or Thing, such as Gulating and Frostating. The second-order subdivision of these regions was into fylker, such as Egdafylke and Hordafylke, in 1914, the historical term fylke was brought into use again to replace the term amt introduced during the union with Denmark. Current day counties often, but not necessarily, correspond to the historical areas. Finnmark, the Faroe Islands, the Orkney Islands, Shetland, the Hebrides, Isle of Man, Iceland and Greenland were Norwegian skattland, from the end of the 12th century, Norway was divided into several syssel. The head of the various syssel was the syslemann, who represented the king locally, the following shows a reconstruction of the different syssel in Norway c. 1300, including sub-syssel where these seem established, from 1308, the term len in Norway signified an administrative region roughly equivalent to todays counties. The historic len was an important administrative entity during the period of Dano-Norwegian unification after their amalgamation as one state, which lasted for the period 1536–1814. At the beginning of the 16th century the political divisions were variable, up to 1660 the four principal len were headquartered at the major fortresses Bohus Fortress, Akershus Fortress, Bergenhus Fortress and the fortified city of Trondheim. The sub-regions corresponded to the districts for the Lutheran church in Norway. Båhus len Akershus len Trondheim len Bergenhus len These four principal len were in the 1530s divided into approximately 30 smaller regions. From that point forward through the beginning of the 17th century the number of subsidiary len was reduced, from 1660 Norway had nine principal len comprising 17 subsidiary len, Len written as län continues to be used as the administrative equivalent of county in Sweden to this day. Each len was governed by a lenman, with the royal decree of February 19,1662, each len was designated an amt and the lenmann was titled amtmann, from German Amt, reflecting the bias of the Danish court of that period
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Legislature
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A legislature is a deliberative assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. Legislatures form important parts of most governments, in the separation of model, they are often contrasted with the executive. Laws enacted by legislatures are known as legislation, legislatures observe and steer governing actions and usually have exclusive authority to amend the budget or budgets involved in the process. The members of a legislature are called legislators, each chamber of legislature consists of a number of legislators who use some form of parliamentary procedure to debate political issues and vote on proposed legislation. There must be a number of legislators present to carry out these activities. Some of the responsibilities of a legislature, such as giving first consideration to newly proposed legislation, are delegated to committees made up of small selections of the legislators. The members of a legislature usually represent different political parties, the members from each party generally meet as a caucus to organize their internal affairs, the internal organization of a legislature is also shaped by the informal norms that are shared by its members. Legislatures vary widely in the amount of power they wield, compared to other political players such as judiciaries, militaries. In 2009, political scientists M. Steven Fish and Matthew Kroenig constructed a Parliamentary Powers Index in an attempt to quantify the different degrees of power among national legislatures, such a system renders the legislature more powerful. Legislatures will sometime delegate their legislative power to administrative or executive agencies, legislatures are made up of individual members, known as legislators, who vote on proposed laws. For example, a legislature that has 100 seats has 100 members, by extension, an electoral district that elects a single legislator can also be described as a seat, as, for, example, in the phrases safe seat and marginal seat. In parliamentary systems of government, the executive is responsible to the legislature which may remove it with a vote of no confidence, names for national legislatures include parliament, congress, diet and assembly. A legislature which operates as a unit is unicameral, one divided into two chambers is bicameral, and one divided into three chambers is tricameral. In bicameral legislatures, one chamber is considered the upper house. In federations, the upper house typically represents the component states. This is a case with the legislature of the European Union. Tricameral legislatures are rare, the Massachusetts Governors Council still exists, tetracameral legislatures no longer exist, but they were previously used in Scandinavia. Legislatures vary widely in their size, among national legislatures, Chinas National Peoples Congress is the largest with 2987 members, while Vatican Citys Pontifical Commission is the smallest with 7
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Proportional representation
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Proportional representation characterizes electoral systems by which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the support an particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result, not just a plurality, or a bare majority, Proportional representation requires the use of multiple-member voting districts, it is not possible using single-member districts alone. In fact, the most proportional representation is achieved when just one super-district is used, the two most widely used families of PR voting systems are party list PR and single transferable vote. Mixed member proportional representation, also known as the Additional Member System, is a hybrid Mixed Electoral System that uses party list PR as its proportional component, with party list PR, political parties define candidate lists and voters vote for a list. The relative vote for each list determines how many candidates from each list are actually elected, lists can be closed or open, open lists allow voters to indicate individual candidate preferences and vote for independent candidates. Voting districts can be small or as large as a province or an entire nation, the single transferable vote uses small districts, with voters ranking individual candidates in order of preference. During the count, as candidates are elected or eliminated, surplus or discarded votes that would otherwise be wasted are transferred to other candidates according to the preferences, STV enables voters to vote across party lines and to elect independent candidates. Voters have two votes, one for their district and one for the party list, the party list vote determining the balance of the parties in the elected body. Biproportional apportionment, first used in Zurich in 2006, is a method for adjusting an elections result to achieve overall proportionality. Some form of representation is used for national lower house elections in 94 countries, party list PR. As with all systems, there are overlapping and contentious claims in terms of its advantages and disadvantages. But does it follow that the minority should have no representatives at all, is it necessary that the minority should not even be heard. Nothing but habit and old association can reconcile any reasonable being to the needless injustice, in a really equal democracy, every or any section would be represented, not disproportionately, but proportionately. A majority of the electors would always have a majority of the representatives, man for man, they would be as fully represented as the majority. Unless they are, there is not equal government, many academic political theorists agree with Mill, that in a representative democracy the representatives should represent all segments of society. The established parties in UK elections can win formal control of the parliament with as little as 35% of votes, in Canada, majority governments are regularly formed by parties with the support of under 40% of votes cast. Coupled with turnout levels in the electorate of less than 60%, in the 2005 general election, for example, the Labour Party under Tony Blair won a comfortable parliamentary majority with the votes of only 21. 6% of the total electorate
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Electoral district
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An electoral district is a territorial subdivision for electing members to a legislative body. Generally, only voters who reside within the district are permitted to vote in an election held there, from a single district, a single member or multiple members might be chosen. Members might be chosen by a first-past-the-post system or a representative system. Members might be chosen through an election under universal suffrage. The names for electoral districts vary across countries and, occasionally, the term constituency is commonly used to refer to an electoral district, it can also refer to the body of eligible voters within the represented area. Similarly, in Australia and New Zealand, electoral districts are called electorates, the term Chûnāô-Kshetra is used while referring to an electoral district in general irrespective of the legislature. When referring to a particular constituency, it is simply referred to as Kshetra along with the name of the legislature. Electoral districts for municipal or other bodies are called wards. In Canada, districts are colloquially called ridings, in French, circonscription or comté, local electoral districts are sometimes called wards, a term which also designates administrative subdivisions of a municipality. In local government in the Republic of Ireland voting districts are called electoral areas, district magnitude is the number of representatives elected from a given district to the same legislative body. A single-member district has one representative, while a district has more than one. Under proportional representation systems, district magnitude is an important determinant of the makeup of the elected body, the geographic distribution of minorities also affects their representation - an unpopular nationwide minority can still secure a seat if they are concentrated in a particular district. District magnitude can vary within the same system during an election. In the Republic of Ireland, for instance, national elections to Dáil Éireann are held using a combination of 3,4, main articles, Apportionment and Redistricting Apportionment is the process of allocating a number of representatives to different regions, such as states or provinces. Apportionment changes are accompanied by redistricting, the redrawing of electoral district boundaries to accommodate the new number of representatives. This redrawing is necessary under single-member district systems, as each new representative requires their own district, multi-member systems, however, vary depending on other rules. Apportionment is generally done on the basis of population, the United States Senate, by contrast, is apportioned without regard to population, every state gets exactly two senators. Malapportionment occurs when voters are under- or over-represented due to variation in district population, given the complexity of this process, software is increasingly used to simplify the task, while better supporting reproducible and more justifiable results
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Multi-party system
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First-past-the-post requires concentrated areas of support for large representation in the legislature whereas proportional representation better reflects the range of a populations views. Proportional systems have multi-member districts with more than one elected from a given district to the same legislative body. Duvergers Law states that the number of political parties is one plus the number of seats in a district. In these countries, usually no single party has a majority by itself. Instead, multiple political parties form coalitions for the purpose of developing power blocks for governing, a system where only two parties have the possibility of winning an election is called two-party system. A system where three parties have a realistic possibility of winning an election or forming a coalition is sometimes called a Third-party system. Usually this is because the electoral system penalises the third party, in the 2010 elections, the Liberal Democrats gained 23% of the total vote but won less than 10% of the seats due to the First-Past-The-Post electoral system. Despite this, they still had enough seats to form coalitions with one of the two parties, or to make deals in order to gain their support. An example is the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition formed after the 2010 general election, another is the Lib-Lab pact during Prime Minister James Callaghans Minority Labour Government, when Labour lost its three-seat majority in 1977, the pact fell short of a full coalition. Unlike a one-party system, a multi-party system encourages the general constituency to form distinct, officially recognized groups. Each party competes for votes from the enfranchised constituents, a multi-party system prevents the leadership of a single party from controlling a single legislative chamber without challenge. If the government includes an elected Congress or Parliament, the parties may share power according to proportional representation or the first-past-the-post system, in proportional representation, each party wins a number of seats proportional to the number of votes it receives. In first-past-the-post, the electorate is divided into a number of districts and this gravitation is known as Duvergers law. Proportional representation, on the hand, does not have this tendency. But, recent coalition governments, such as that in the U. K. represent two-party systems rather than multi-party systems and this is regardless of the number of parties in government. A two-party system requires voters to align themselves in large blocs, some theories argue that this allows centrists to gain control. On the other hand, if there are multiple parties, each with less than a majority of the vote. This also promotes centrism, as well as promoting coalition-building skills while discouraging polarization, coalition Polarized pluralism Political organisation Ingroups and outgroups
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Political party
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A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the good or furthering their supporters interests. While there is some international commonality in the way political parties are recognized, and in how they operate, there are many differences. Many political parties have a core, but some do not. In many democracies, political parties are elected by the electorate to run a government, many countries, such as Germany and India, have several significant political parties, and some nations have one-party systems, such as China and Cuba. The United States is in practice a two-party system, but with smaller parties also participating. Its two most important parties are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, the first political factions, cohering around a basic, if fluid, set of principles, emerged from the Exclusion Crisis and Glorious Revolution in late 17th century England. The leader of the Whigs was Robert Walpole, who maintained control of the government in the period 1721–1742, as the century wore on, the factions slowly began to adopt more coherent political tendencies as the interests of their power bases began to diverge. The Whig partys initial base of support from the aristocratic families widened to include the emerging industrial interests. A major influence on the Whigs were the political ideas of John Locke. They acted as a united, though unavailing, opposition to Whig corruption and they finally regained power with the accession of George III in 1760 under Lord Bute. Out of this chaos, the first distinctive parties emerged, the first such party was the Rockingham Whigs under the leadership of Charles Watson-Wentworth and the intellectual guidance of the political philosopher Edmund Burke. A coalition including the Rockingham Whigs, led by the Earl of Shelburne, took power in 1782, the new government, led by the radical politician Charles James Fox in coalition with Lord North, was soon brought down and replaced by William Pitt the Younger in 1783. It was now that a genuine two-party system began to emerge, by the time of this split the Whig party was increasingly influenced by the ideas of Adam Smith, founder of classical liberalism. As Wilson and Reill note, Adam Smiths theory melded nicely with the political stance of the Whig Party. The modern Conservative Party was created out of the Pittite Tories of the early 19th century, in the late 1820s disputes over political reform broke up this grouping. A government led by the Duke of Wellington collapsed amidst dire election results, following this disaster Robert Peel set about assembling a new coalition of forces. However, a consensus reached on these issues ended party politics in 1816 for a decade, Party politics revived in 1829 with the split of the Democratic-Republican Party into the Jacksonian Democrats led by Andrew Jackson, and the Whig Party, led by Henry Clay
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Citizenship
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Citizenship is the status of a person recognized under the custom or law as being a legal member of a sovereign state. A person may have multiple citizenships and a person who does not have citizenship of any state is said to be stateless. Nationality is often used as a synonym for citizenship in English – notably in international law – although the term is understood as denoting a persons membership of a nation. In some countries, e. g. the United States, each country has its own policies, regulations and criteria as to who is entitled to its citizenship. A person can be recognised or granted citizenship on a number of bases, usually citizenship based on the place of birth is automatic, in other cases an application may be required. If one or both of a persons parents are citizens of a state, then the person may have the right to be a citizen of that state as well. Formerly this might only have applied through the line. Citizenship is granted based on ancestry or ethnicity, and is related to the concept of a nation state common in China, where jus sanguinis holds, a person born outside a country, one or both of whose parents are citizens of the country, is also a citizen. States normally limit the right to citizenship by descent to a number of generations born outside the state. This form of citizenship is not common in civil law countries, Some people are automatically citizens of the state in which they are born. This form of citizenship originated in England where those who were born within the realm were subjects of the monarch, in many cases both jus solis and jus sanguinis hold, citizenship either by place or parentage. Many countries fast-track naturalization based on the marriage of a person to a citizen, States normally grant citizenship to people who have entered the country legally and been granted permit to stay, or been granted political asylum, and also lived there for a specified period. Some states allow dual citizenship and do not require naturalized citizens to renounce any other citizenship. In the past there have been exclusions on entitlement to citizenship on grounds such as color, ethnicity, sex. Most of these no longer apply in most places. The United States grants citizenship to those born as a result of reproductive technologies, Some exclusions still persist for internationally adopted children born before Feb 27,1983 even though their parents meet citizenship criteria. Polis meant both the assembly of the city-state as well as the entire society. Citizenship has generally been identified as a western phenomenon, there is a general view that citizenship in ancient times was a simpler relation than modern forms of citizenship, although this view has come under scrutiny
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Women's suffrage
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Womens suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Limited voting rights were gained by women in Finland, Iceland, Sweden and some Australian colonies, National and international organizations formed to coordinate efforts to gain voting rights, especially the International Woman Suffrage Alliance, and also worked for equal civil rights for women. In 1881, the Isle of Man gave women who owned property the right to vote, in 1893, the British colony of New Zealand, granted women the right to vote. The colony of South Australia, did the same in 1894 and women were able to vote in the next election, South Australia also permitted women to stand for election alongside men. In 1899 Western Australia enacted full womens suffrage, enabling women to vote in the referendum of 31 July 1900. In 1902 women in the four colonies also acquired the right to vote. Discriminatory restrictions against Aboriginal people, including women, voting in elections, were not completely removed until 1962. Norway followed, granting full womens suffrage in 1913, most independent countries enacted womens suffrage in the interwar era, including Canada in 1917, Britain in 1918 and the United States in 1920. If women could work in factories, it seemed both ungrateful and illogical to deny them a place in the polling booth. But the vote was more than simply a reward for war work. Late adopters in Europe included Spain in 1931, France in 1944, Italy in 1946, Greece in 1952, Switzerland in 1971, the United States gave women equal voting rights in all states with the Nineteenth Amendment ratified in 1920. Canada and a few Latin American nations passed womens suffrage before World War II while the vast majority of Latin American nations established womens suffrage in the 1940s, the last Latin American country to give women the right to vote was Paraguay in 1961. In December 2015, women were first allowed to vote in Saudi Arabia, extended political campaigns by women and their supporters have generally been necessary to gain legislation or constitutional amendments for womens suffrage. In many countries, limited suffrage for women was granted before universal suffrage for men, for instance, in ancient Athens, often cited as the birthplace of democracy, only adult, male citizens who owned land were permitted to vote. Through subsequent centuries, Europe was generally ruled by monarchs, though forms of parliament arose at different times. Their Protestant successors enjoyed the same privilege almost into modern times and they make decisions there like the men, and it is they who even delegated the first ambassadors to discuss peace. The Iroquois, like many First Nations peoples in North America, had a kinship system. Property and descent were passed through the female line, Women elders voted on hereditary male chiefs and could depose them
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Norwegian parliamentary election, 2017
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The next Norwegian parliamentary election is set for 11 September 2017. The Norwegian legislature, the Storting, will be elected for a new four-year term, all the 169 parliamentary seats will be up for grabs. The last parliamentary elections in Norway were held on 9 September 2013, the outcome was a victory for the Conservatives and their right-wing allies. The Conservative Party, led by Erna Solberg, and the right-wing Progress Party formed a two-party minority government, the two parties received confidence and supply from two centrist parties, the Liberals and the Christian Democrats. According to the Norwegian constitution, parliamentary elections must be held four years. There are currently eight political parties represented in the Norwegian parliament, the Labour Party is with its 55 seats in parliament the largest party of the 2013-2017 parliament. Labour describes itself as a party of the centre-left. The party is led by minister of foreign affairs Jonas Gahr Støre. The Conservative Party is the largest party of the incumbent government, currently, the Conservatives hold 48 seats, after having garnered close to 27 percent of the vote in the previous election. The Conservatives party leader is Prime Minister Erna Solberg, the Conservative Party is considered to be a moderate centre-right party in the Norwegian political spectrum, and it officially subscribes to the liberal conservative ideology. The Progress Party is led by Siv Jensen and currently serves as the partner in the Solberg cabinet. The party identifies as classical liberal and conservative-liberal, political scientists broadly consider it a right-wing populist party, a label the party denies. The Christian Democratic Party is a centrist party based on Christian democratic values, the party is led by Knut Arild Hareide, and participated in the 2013 election as a proponent of the centre-right coalition led by the Conservatives. The Centre Party is the fifth largest party in the Norwegian legislature, between 2005 and 2013 the party served as a junior partner in the Red-Green government. The party is led by Trygve Slagsvold Vedum, the party is primarily agrarian, with some conservative and some liberal factions. The Liberal Party of Trine Skei Grande currently holds 9 seats in the Norwegian parliament and it claims to be the sole social-liberal party in the country, and positions itself in the centre of Norwegian politics. The Liberals have a relationship with the Christian Democrats. The Socialist Left Party is the second smallest party in parliament, the party sees itself as democratic socialist and environmentalist
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Election threshold
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The electoral threshold is the minimum share of the vote which a political party requires to secure any representation in a legislature. This limit can operate in various ways, if there are a number of multi-member constituencies, each constituency will have a quota, i. e. a minimum percentage of the votes in that constituency to be awarded one seat. Lijphart suggested calculating the informal threshold as the mean of these, in Polands Sejm, Germanys Bundestag and New Zealands House of Representatives, the threshold is 5%. However, in Germany and New Zealand, if a party wins a number of directly elected seats—three in Germany. The threshold is 3. 25% in Israels Knesset, and 10% in the Turkish parliament, in Poland, ethnic minority parties do not have to reach the threshold level to get into the parliament, and so there is always a small German minority representation in the Sejm. In Romania, for the minority parties there is a different threshold than for the national parties that run for the Chamber of Deputies. In the Slovenian parliamentary elections of 1992 and 1996 the threshold was set at 3 parliamentary seats and this meant that the parties needed to win about 3. 2% of the votes in order to pass the threshold. In 2000 the threshold was raised to 4% of the votes, in Sweden, there is a nationwide threshold of 4%, but if a party reaches 12% in one election district, it will take part in the seat allocation for that district. However, through the 2014 election, nobody has been elected based on the 12% rule, in Norway the nationwide electoral threshold of 4% applies only to leveling seats. A party with sufficient local support may still win the district seats. Following the 2009 election, the Liberal Party won two seats in this manner, in the United States, as the majority of elections are conducted under the first-past-the-post system, legal election thresholds do not apply in the actual voting. However, several states have requirements for parties to obtain automatic ballot access to the next general election without having to submit voter-signed petitions. The threshold rules also apply for independent candidates to obtain ballot access, countries can have more than one threshold. Most multiple-threshold systems are still in the proposal stage, election thresholds are often implemented with the intention of bringing stability to the political system. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recommends for parliamentary elections a threshold not higher than 3%. However a 2007 European Court of Human Rights decision, Yumak and Sadak v. Turkey, because Turkey has no limits for independent candidates, the 10% rule has to some extent been circumvented by parties running candidates as independents. Examples of elections where established parties fall below the threshold are, all five parties that passed the 10% threshold in 1999 elections, as well as two other major parties, failed to pass the threshold in 2002, rocking the Turkish politics to its foundations. Notably DYP got 9. 55%, MHP got 8. 34%, GP got 7. 25%, DEHAP got 6. 23%, ANAP got 5. 13%, SP got 2. 48% and DSP got 1. 22%, all falling below the threshold
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Socialist Left Party (Norway)
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The Socialist Left Party or SV, is a democratic socialist political party in Norway. At one point one of the smallest parties in Parliament, it became the fourth-largest political party in Norway for the first time in the 2001 parliamentary election, following the 2013 election, the party was reduced to the seventh largest party and became a part of the opposition. The party was founded in 1973 as the Socialist Electoral League, in 1975, the coalition was turned into a unified political party. The party was founded as a result of the foreign policies prevalent at the time, with the socialists being opposed to Norwegian membership of the European Union. While currently having the official ideology of socialism, the party also increasingly profiles itself as a supporter of feminism and environmentalism. It calls for a public sector, more government involvement in the economy. Since 1987, the faction of the party has held the leading positions. As of 2008, the party has over 9,500 members, the current leader of the Socialist Left is Audun Lysbakken, who was elected on 11 March 2012. He was one of the opponents of Norwegian membership in the European Community, saying the organisation showed how evil. According to a 2002 poll, one out of four members in the Socialist Left wanted Norway to join the European Union, the partys election program for the 2001 parliamentary election stated that the party was a socialist party with a vision of a Norway without social injustice. Since its inception, the party has promoted itself as socialist, in later years, the party has been portrayed as social democratic by some in the Norwegian media, and as democratic socialists. The party has been categorised as eco-socialist, the present leader, Audun Lysbakken, has been a self-proclaimed revolutionary, socialist, and Marxist. He believes the party to be a democratic socialist one, Education has been one of main campaign issues since Kristin Halvorsen became party leader. Øystein Djupedal was elected Minister of Education and Research, and held position for two years. He was replaced by fellow Socialist Left politician Bård Vegar Solhjell, Halvorsen took over the ministry in late 2009. Djupedals first assignment in office was granting 10 million kr to even out social differences between ethnic minorities, the party believes that everyone has the right to free access to kindergarten. Many had great expectations, but he is sure lagging behind from the time when he was a sideliner, Djupedal was heavily criticised by the Norwegian media for his controversial and bizarre statements. The party wants to reduce the number of schools, Djupedal claims they are of no use
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Green Party (Norway)
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The Green Party is a Norwegian political party. The party holds one seat in the Parliament of Norway and also has representation in municipal councils, the Green Party advocates green politics, and has been described as centre-left by academics and voters. The party itself claims distance to the two dominant right-wing and left-wing political blocs, jointly denominated as the fossil block, the Green Party is a member of the European Green Party and the Global Greens, and was founded with the German Greens as its stated model. It maintains close ties to other Green parties including the German Greens, the process of forming a new national green party in Norway was initiated in December 1984, with the official launch in 1988. Among the pioneers were the late philosopher Arne Næss, peace researcher Johan Galtung, in the local elections between 1991 and 2009 the Green Party had 6 -8 representatives elected each time. In the national elections the party never exceeded 0. 5% support, since 2005, the Greens have seen a significant membership rise, with the new members coming from a wide variety of other parties, including the seven established parliamentary parties. In the municipal elections of 2011, the party saw its first local breakthrough, two years later, during the campaign for the 2013 general election, the party saw a significant rise in support in the opinion polls. The Greens were widely expected to gain parliamentary representation to some extent, in the election, the Greens gathered over 79,000 votes, making them the 8th biggest party in the country. This vote count translates to 2.8 percent of the vote, rasmus Hansson, the partys top candidate from Oslo was elected to parliament, becoming the first ever Green MP. In the local elections of 2015 the Green Party overtook the 4% nationally for the first time in its history, the Green Party is one of the global ecologist and environmentalist political parties and movements. As a member of the pan-European European Green Party, the Norwegian Greens subscribe to social progressivism, the main focus of the party is environmental protection and ecological sustainability. The party seeks to introduce a tax on consumption. The Greens have also pledged support for a reform in the industry, increasing the production of organic crops. The Green party seeks to reduce the Norwegian petroleum extraction in order to counteract serious climate change, the proposal is to stop extraction by 2033. The party does not have a leader in the traditional sense, among the board members, two persons, act as national spokespersons for the party. All party representatives are elected during the party convention. Green party Green politics List of environmental organizations Official site
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Labour Party (Norway)
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The Labour Party, formerly the Norwegian Labour Party, is a social-democratic political party in Norway. It was formerly the senior partner of the governing Red-Green Coalition, the party is currently led by Jonas Gahr Støre. The Labour Party is officially committed to social-democratic ideals and its slogan since the 1930s has been everyone shall take part, and the party traditionally seeks a strong welfare state, funded through taxes and duties. During the first Stoltenberg government, the policies were inspired by Tony Blairs New Labour. The party has frequently described as increasingly neoliberal since the 1980s. The Labour Party profiles itself as a party that subscribes to cooperation on a national as well as international level. Its youth wing is the Workers Youth League, the party is a full member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance, and is an observer member of the Socialist International. The Labour Party has always been a supporter of Norways NATO membership and has supported Norwegian membership in the European Union during two referendums. Founded in 1887, the party increased in support until it became the largest party in Norway in 1927. This year also saw the consolidation of surrounding the party during the 1920s following its membership in the Comintern from 1919 to 1923. It formed its first government in 1928, and has led the government for all but 16 years since 1935, from 1945 to 1961, the party had an absolute majority in the Norwegian parliament, the only time this has ever happened in Norwegian history. The domination by the Labour Party, during the 1960s and early 1970s, was broken by competition from the left. From the end of the 1970s however, the party started to lose voters to the right, in 2001 the party achieved its worst electoral results since 1924. Between 2005 and 2013, Labour returned to power after committing to an agreement with other parties in order to form a majority government. Since losing 9 seats in the 2013 election, Labour has been in opposition, the party was founded in 1887 in Arendal and first ran in elections to the Parliament of Norway in 1894. It entered Parliament in 1904 after the 1903 election, and steadily increased its vote until 1927, the party were members of Comintern, a Communist organisation, between 1918 and 1923. From the establishment of Vort Arbeide in 1884, the party had a growing and notable organisation of newspapers, the party press system eventually resulted in Norsk Arbeiderpresse. In January 1913 the party had 24 newspapers, and 6 more newspapers were founded in 1913, the party also had the periodical Det 20de Aarhundre
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Centre Party (Norway)
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The Centre Party is an agrarian centrist political party in Norway. From its founding until 2000, the party joined only governments not led by the Labour Party, governments headed by prime ministers from the party include the short-lived Kolstad and Hundseids Cabinet between 1931 and 1933, and the longer-lasting Bortens Cabinet from 1965 until 1971. The party was founded at the convention of the Norsk Landmandsforbund during 17 to 19 June 1920. In 1922 the association was renamed to the Norwegian Agrarian Association, during the eight decades since the Centre Party was created as a political faction of a Norwegian agrarian organisation, the party has changed a great deal. The 1930s have in the post-war era been seen as a time in the partys history. This is partly because Vidkun Quisling, who became leader of Nasjonal Samling, was Minister of Defence in the Farmers Party Kolstad. Quisling was however not a member of the Farmers Party, while there were fascist sympaties among parts of the Farmers Partys electorate, the Farmers Party itself never supported fascism. It was after all the Farmers Party that enabled the first stable Labour cabinet in Norway, in 1935, they reached a compromise with the Labour Party, which led to the Nygaardsvold Cabinet. In addition, the Farmers Party was represented in the cabinet by Anders Fjeldstad. Political scientist Trond Nordby in 2009 also said that the Farmers Party has been given a bad reputation from this time. In 1959 the party changed their name to the Norwegian Democratic Party — Democrats, in June 1959 the name was changed to the current Centre Party. This happened out of the need to attract an additional electorate with the decline of the agrarian share of the population. The partys membership peaked at 70,000 in 1971. In local elections, the party enjoys strong support in small municipalities. After the 2007 elections,83 of the mayors in Norway represent the Centre Party, only the Labour Party has more mayors, and relative to party size, the Centre Party has more mayors than any other. The Centre Party had been a part of only non-socialist coalition governments from 1930 to 2000, in seven governments and these negotiations succeeded and the Centre Party entered the Second Stoltenberg Cabinet on 17 October 2005 with four ministers. The Red-Greens were re-elected to government in the 2009 election and it has been argued that the partys ideology has moved more towards social democracy in recent years. This included increased duties of 429% on lamb, 344% on beef, the party is known in Norway for their support of high toll tariffs on foreign cheese and meat, called toll protection, and their proposal to shoot all wolves in Norway
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Liberal Party (Norway)
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The Liberal Party is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Norway. The party is the oldest in Norway, and has enacted reforms such as parliamentarism, freedom of religion, universal suffrage and state schooling. For most of the late 19th and early 20th century, it was Norways largest and dominant political party, the party has nevertheless participated in several centrist and centre-right government coalitions in the postwar era. It currently holds nine seats in the Parliament, and has an agreement with the incumbent government parties. Since 2010, the leader of the party is Trine Skei Grande, the party is regarded as social-liberal and advocates personal freedom under the pre-condition of an active state. Since the 1970s, the party has maintained an environmentalist position, the Liberal Party was rated the second best party after the Green Party by the environmentalist organisation Framtiden i våre hender. The party is also a supporter of multiculturalism, increased labour immigration to Norway. Overall, it has had a centrist position in the Norwegian political landscape, since the 1880s, the party has seen many internal schisms. Venstre is a liberal, social-liberal and centrist party, through its history it has taken part in both centre-right and pure centrist coalition governments. From 2001 to 2005, it was in a coalition government with the Conservative Party and Christian Democratic Party, since the 2005 general election. More recently the party has been a proponent of a Blue–green alliance in Norwegian politics, in the last few election campaigns, Venstres main focus has been on environmental issues, education, small-business and social issues. Venstre advocates higher taxes on activities that damage the environment and it prefers continued membership in the European Economic Area. In 2007, Venstre became the first Norwegian party to advocate legal file sharing, the party Venstre was formed in 1884 in connection with the dispute about whether or not to introduce parliamentarism in Norway. Venstre was the party advocating parliamentarism, whereas the conservatives, who opposed parliamentarism, when the fight for parliamentarism was won, Venstres leader Johan Sverdrup became the first Norwegian prime minister to be appointed on the basis of having the support of a majority in the Storting. In the first decades after 1884, Venstre formed several governments, six different Prime Ministers of Norway have come from Venstre, all of them before 1935. With the growth of Labour Party, Venstre gradually lost ground, the election of 1915 was the last in which Venstre was the largest party and won an outright majority in the Storting. Venstre was further weakened with the formation of Bondepartiet in 1920, after World War II, Venstre has been part of four coalition governments, the most recent one being the second government of Kjell Magne Bondevik from 2001 to 2005. These included the party leader, Helge Seip, and 9 of the 13 members of parliament, since then, Venstre has been a fairly small party
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Christian Democratic Party (Norway)
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The Christian Democratic Party, is a Christian democratic political party in Norway founded in 1933. The Norwegian name literally translates to Christian Peoples Party, shortened KrF, the name may also be translated as The Peoples Christian Party. The party follow their European counterparts in many ways, positioning themselves as a family-friendly party, while founded on the basis of advocating moral-cultural Christian issues, the party has broadened its political profile over time, although Christian values remains its core distinction. It is considered an overall centrist party, combining socially conservative views with more left-leaning economic positions, the party is an observer member of the European Peoples Party. The Christian Democrats leader from 1983 to 1995, Kjell Magne Bondevik, was one of the most prominent political figures in modern Norway, under the old leadership of Bondevik and Valgerd Svarstad Haugland, the party was to some extent radicalized and moved towards the left. Due largely to their showing in the 2009 elections, the party has seen a conflict between its conservative and liberal wings. The current leader is Knut Arild Hareide, who has led the party into a liberal direction as part of a renewal process. In social policy the Christian Democratic Party generally have conservative opinions, on life issues, the party opposes euthanasia, and abortion, though it can support abortion in cases of rape or when the mothers life is at risk. The party supports accessibility to contraception as a way of lowering abortion rates and they also want to ban research on human fetuses, and have expressed skepticism for proposals to liberalize the biotechnology laws in Norway. On gay rights issues, the party supports possibilities for gay couples to live together, the party maintains neutrality on the issue of gay clergy, calling that an issue for the church. Since the party was established, a declaration of Christian faith was required for a person to be a representative in the party, the increase of support from other religions, including Islam, stimulated efforts to abolish this rule. At the 2013 convention the rule was modified, the new rules require that representatives work for Christian values but do not require them to declare a Christian faith. This latter point was considered the last drop for some elements of the party. The Christian Democratic Party was founded as a reaction to the secularism in Norway in the 1930s. Cultural and spiritual values were proposed as an alternative to political parties focusing on material values, in reaction to this, Kristelig Folkeparti was set up, with Lavik as their top candidate in the county of Hordaland. He succeeded in being elected to Stortinget, the Norwegian parliament, at the next elections, in 1936, the party also ran in Bergen, and succeeded in electing a representative from there as well. In 1945, at the first elections after the Nazi occupation of Norway, the party was organised on a nationwide basis, the Christian Democrats became part of a short-lived non-socialist coalition government along with the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party and the Centre Party in 1963. At the elections of 1965, these four parties won a majority of seats in Stortinget, the Christian Democrats opposed Norwegian membership in the European Community ahead of the referendum in 1972
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Conservative Party (Norway)
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The Conservative Party is a conservative and liberal-conservative political party in Norway. It is the party of the Norwegian centre-right, and the leading party in the governing Solberg cabinet. The current party leader is the Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg, in national elections in September 2013, voters ended eight years of Labour Party rule. After winning the elections, Solberg said her win was an election victory for the right-wing electoral bloc. The party advocates economic liberalism, reduction of taxes, and individual rights and it has historically been the most outspokenly pro-European Union party in Norway, supporting Norwegian membership during both the 1972 and 1994 referendums. The party generally supports semi-privatization through state-funded private services and tougher law, founded in 1884, the Conservative Party is the second oldest political party in Norway after the Liberal Party. In the interwar era, one of the goals for the party was to achieve a centre-right alliance against the growing labour movement. The Conservative Party of Norway was founded in 1884 after the implementation of parliamentarism in Norway, the jurist Emil Stang was elected the first chairman of the party. Stang underlined important principles for the work in Høyre, the party was to be a social party of reforms that worked within the constitutional frames set by a parliamentary democracy. In the 1981-election, Høyre got 31. 7% and it was the best election since 1924. The result in 1993 was 17% and this election was influenced by the EU membership issue which divided the Liberal Party. The 1997 parliamentary election resulted in the lowest support since 1945, Høyre has since then seen increased popular support, and got 21. 3% in the 1999 local elections and 21. 2% in the 2001 parliamentary election. Throughout the years Høyre has supported a policy that aims to stimulate growth in order to avoid unemployment, in the beginning of the 20th century Høyre took the initiative to construct a modern Norwegian communications network. After the devastating First World War it was important for Høyre to work for the reconstruction of sound, an example of this is the resolution Høyre passed in 1923 introducing old-age insurance. But because of the States finances it was not possible to continue this effort, Høyre was the leading party in opposition in the post-war years in Norway. Høyre fought against the Labour Partys regulating policy, Høyre wanted another future for Norway consisting of private initiative and creative forces. Høyre has been a protagonist in the construction of the system in this country. Additionally Høyre has advocated that the States activity must concentrate on its basic problems, during the post-war years Høyre has consolidated its position as a party with appeal to all parts of the nation
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Progress Party (Norway)
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The Progress Party is a political party in Norway which identifies as classical liberal and conservative-liberal. In coalition with the Conservative Party, the party won the 2013 parliamentary election, the party also seek a more restrictive immigration policy and tougher integration and law and order measures. In foreign policy it is strongly Atlanticist, and pro-globalization, after being neutral on Norwegian membership in the European Union for many years, the party in 2016 officially adopted a position opposing Norwegian membership. The current leader of the party is Siv Jensen, who since 2013 is also Norways Minister of Finance, the Progress Party was founded at a meeting at the movie theater Saga Kino in Oslo on 8 April 1973, attended by around 1,345 persons. Lange had some experience from the interwar era Fatherland League. Since the end of the war, he had worked as an independent right-wing political editor, Lange held his first public speech as chairman of ALP at Youngstorget in Oslo on 16 May the same year. ALP was to a large extent inspired by the Danish Progress Party, Glistrup also spoke at the event, which gathered around 4,000 attendees. Originally, Anders Lange wanted the party to be an anti-tax protest movement rather than a political party. The party had a political platform on a single sheet of paper that on one side listed ten things the party was tired of. The protest was directed against what Lange claimed to be a high level of taxes, subsidies. In the 1973 parliamentary election, the party won 5 percent of the vote, the first party conference was held in Hjelmeland in 1974, where the party established its first political conventions. In early 1974, Kristofer Almås, Deputy Member of Parliament Carl I, Hagen, along with some others, broke away and formed the short-lived Reform Party. The background for this was a criticism of ALPs undemocratic organisation, however, in the same year, Anders Lange died, consequently Hagen stepped in as a regular Member of Parliament in Langes place. As a result, the Reform Party merged back into ALP already the following year, the party adopted its current name, the Progress Party, on 29 January 1977, inspired by the great success of the Danish Progress Party. The Progress Party performed poorly in the 1977 parliamentary election, and was left without parliamentary representation, in the 1978 party convention, Carl I. Hagen was elected as party chairman. Hagen soon started to expand the program of the party, and built a conventional party organisation. The partys youth organisation, the Progress Partys Youth, was established in 1978. Hagen succeeded in sharpening the image of the party as an anti-tax movement and his criticism of the wisdom of hoarding billions of dollars in the Oil Fund hit a nerve owing to perceived declines in infrastructure, schools, and social services and long queues at hospitals
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Finnmark
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Finnmark is a county in the extreme northeastern part of Norway. By land, it borders Troms county to the west, Finland to the south, and Russia to the east, and by water, the Norwegian Sea to the northwest, the county was formerly known as Finmarkens amt or Vardøhus amt. Since 2002, it has had two names, Finnmark and Finnmárku. It is part of the Sápmi region, which spans four countries, as well as the Barents Region, Vardø, the easternmost municipality in Norway, is located farther east than the cities of St. Petersburg and Istanbul. The Old Norse form of the name was Finnmǫrk, the first element is finn, the Norse name for the Sámi people. The last element is mǫrk which means woodland or borderland, in Norse times the name referred to any places where Sámi people were living. The coat of arms are black with a castle tower, technically described as Sable. The design is from 1967 and shows the old Vardøhus Fortress on the border with Russia. Finnmark is the northernmost and easternmost county in Norway, by area, Finnmark is Norways largest county, even larger than the neighboring country of Denmark. However, with a population of about 75,000, it is also the least populated of all Norwegian counties, Finnmark has a total coastline of 6,844 kilometres, including 3,155 kilometres of coastline on the islands. Nearly 12,300 people or 16.6 percent of the population in 2000 was living in the 100-meter belt along the coastline. Honningsvåg in Finnmark claims to be the northernmost city of the world, the coast is indented by large fjords, many of which are false fjords, as they are not carved out by glaciers. The highest point is located on the top of the glacier Øksfjordjøkelen, which has an area of 45 square kilometres, both Øksfjordjøkelen and Seilandsjøkelen are located in the western part of Finnmark. The Øksfjord plateau glacier calved directly into the sea until 1900, the central and eastern part of Finnmark is generally less mountainous, and has no glaciers. The land east of Nordkapp is mostly below 300 m, the nature varies from barren coastal areas facing the Barents Sea, to more sheltered fjord areas and river valleys with gullies and tree vegetation. About half of the county is above the line. This valley has the highest density of Brown bears in Norway, lynx and moose are common in large parts of Finnmark, but rare on the coast. The interior parts of the county are part of the great Finnmarksvidda plateau, with an elevation of 300 to 400 m, with numerous lakes, the plateau is famous for its tens of thousands of reindeer owned by the Sami, and swarms of mosquitos in mid-summer
