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Conservative Party (Norway)

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The party regard itself as an opponent of socialism, and advocate economic liberalism and reduction of taxes and public spending. 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 support privatizations and tougher law and order measures.

Founded in 1884, the Conservative Party is the second oldest party in Norway, only after the Liberal Party. In the interwar era, one of the main goals for the party was to achieve a centre-right alliance against the growing labour movement, when the party went into a decline. From 1950 to 2009, the party participated in six governments; two 1960s national governments (Lyng's Cabinet and Borten's Cabinet), one 1980s Conservative Party minority government (Willoch's First Cabinet), two 1980s three-party governments (Willoch's Second Cabinet and Syse's Cabinet), and finally the 2000s Bondevik's Second Cabinet.

History

The Conservative Party of Norway was founded in 1884 with Emil Stang as its first Chairman. Ever since its creation, Høyre has been one of the larger political parties in Norway. For many years, it was the largest non-socialist party in Norway and has taken part in many governments. It lost this distinction with a historically bad election in 2005, receiving only 14.1 percent of the vote, and failed again to take back the distinction in 2009. It is currently the third largest party in the Norwegian Parliament, Stortinget, after the Norwegian Labour Party and the Progress Party.

Ideology

The party is committed to fiscal free market policies, including tax cuts and little government involvement in the economy. Høyre is also the only party in the Storting which proposes a reduction in public spending. The party is often associated with wealth and is often attacked by the left for defending the country's riches. In contrast to the party's center-right economic orientation, Høyre's social policies are quite liberal, with the party's programme supporting liberal policies such as gay adoption rights and even gay marriage. It is also in favour of Norwegian membership in the European Union.

Membership

Norway

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The party has 25,000 registered members (2008). The Central Board of Høyre meets seven times a year to discuss important matters such as budget, organizational work, plans, party platforms, drawing up political lines.

Parliamentary (Storting) elections 1961-2005

Year  % of votes seats
1961 19.3% 29
1965 20.3% 31
1969 18.8% 29
1973 17.2% 29
1977 24.5% 41
1981 31.8% 53
1985 30.4% 50
1989 22.2% 37
1993 17.0% 28
1997 14.3% 23
2001 21.2% 38
2005 14.1% 23
2009 17.2% 30

List of party chairmen and leaders

Erna Solberg, the party leader
Headquarters in Oslo

Internationally

Høyre is an associated member of the European People's Party (EPP) and full member of the International Democrat Union (IDU).

See also

References

  1. ^ Røed, Lars-Ludvig (7 January 2009). "Lengre mellom partimedlemmene i dag". Aftenposten. http://www.aftenposten.no/fakta/innsikt/article2852464.ece. 
  2. ^ a b "Kommunestyre- og fylkestingsvalget 2007". Statistics Norway. http://www.ssb.no/kommvalg/main.html. Retrieved 6 December 2009. 
  3. ^ Tvedt, Knut Are (31 October 2009). "Høyre". Store norske leksikon. http://www.snl.no/H%C3%B8yre. 
  4. ^ a b Bakken, Vilje. "Høyre - skatter, skole og frihet". Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/innenriks/valg/valg_2009/partiene/1.6706495. Retrieved 4 August 2010. 

External links


Political parties in Norway

Bracketed numbers indicate numbers of seats in parliament.

Parliament
Labour (64) · Progress (41) · Conservative (30) · Socialist Left (11) · Centre (11) · Christian Democratic (10) · Liberal (2)
   
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