- Conservative Party (Norway)
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Conservative Party
Høyre
Leader Erna Solberg Parliamentary leader Erna Solberg Founded 1884 Headquarters Oslo Youth wing Norwegian Young Conservatives Membership ~100,000 (peak, 1980s)
28,000 (2011)[1]Ideology Conservatism[2][3]
Liberal conservatism[4]
Pro-Europeanism[5]Political position Centre-right International affiliation International Democrat Union European affiliation European People's Party (associate) Official colours Blue Parliament 30 / 169County Councils[6] 210 / 728Municipal / City Councils[7] 2,349 / 10,781Sami Parliament 1 / 39Website www.hoyre.no Politics of Norway
Political parties
ElectionsThe Conservative Party (Norwegian: Høyre, H, literally "right") is a Norwegian political party. The current leader (since 2004) is Erna Solberg. The party was since the 1920s consistently the second largest party in Norway, but has been surpassed by the growth of the Progress Party in the late 1990s and 2000s. In 2005, the party achieved the worst election in its entire history, but has seen a strong surge in polls since the 2009 election.
The party regards itself as an opponent of socialism, and advocates 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.[5] The party generally supports privatizations and tougher law and order measures.[8]
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.[8]
Contents
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 richest. 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 1906-2009
Year % of votes seats 1906 32.7% 35 1909 41.5% 41 1912 32.6% 20 1915 29% 20 1918 30% 40 1921 33.4% 42 1924 32.5% 54 1927 24% 30 1930 27.4% 41 1933 20.2% 30 1936 21.3% 36 1945 17% 25 1949 17.8% 23 1953 18.8% 27 1957 18.9% 29 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
- Emil Stang, 1884–1889
- Christian Homann Schweigaard, 1889–1891
- Emil Stang, 1891–1893
- Christian Homann Schweigaard, 1893–1896
- Emil Stang, 1896–1899
- Francis Hagerup, 1899–1902
- Ole L. Skattebøl, 1902–1905
- Edm. Harbitz, 1905–1907
- Fredrik Stang, 1907–1911
- Jens Bratlie, 1911–1919
- Otto Bahr Halvorsen, 1919–1923
- Ivar Lykke, 1923–1926
- Carl Joachim Hambro, 1926–1934
- Johan H. Andresen, 1934–1937
- Ole Ludvig Bærøe, 1937–1940
- Arthur Nordlie, 1945–1950
- Carl Joachim Hambro, 1950–1954
- Alv Kjøs, 1954–1962
- Sjur Lindebrække, 1962–1970
- Kåre Willoch, 1970–1974
- Erling Norvik, 1974–1980
- Jo Benkow, 1980–1984
- Erling Norvik, 1984–1986
- Rolf Presthus, 1986–1988
- Kaci Kullmann Five, 1988
- Jan P. Syse, 1988–1991
- Kaci Kullmann Five, 1991–1994
- Jan Petersen, 1994–2004
- Erna Solberg, 2004-
Headquarters in OsloInternationally
Høyre is an associated member of the European People's Party (EPP) and full member of the International Democrat Union (IDU).
See also
References
- ^ Libell, Henrik Pryser (28 August 2011). "7 prosent vekst for ungdomspartiene siden 22/7" (in Norwegian). MandagMorgen. http://www.mandagmorgen.no/7-prosent-vekst-ungdomspartiene-siden-227. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
- ^ Principle programmePDF
- ^ "Information in English", Conservative Party, http://www.hoyre.no/www/om_hoyre/english_information/, retrieved 7 May 2011
- ^ "Valgomaten: Riksdekkende 2007". Aftenposten. 2007. http://tux.aftenposten.no/testdegselv/test.do?method=profiles¶meter=17. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
- ^ a b Tvedt, Knut Are (31 October 2009), "Høyre", in Pettersen, Henrik (in Norwegian), Store norske leksikon, Oslo: Kunnskapsforlaget, http://www.snl.no/H%C3%B8yre
- ^ "Valg 2011: Landsoversikt per parti" (in Norwegian). Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. http://www.regjeringen.no/krd/html/valg2011/bf5.html. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- ^ "Høgre" (in Norwegian). Valg 2011. Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.nrk.no/valg2011/valgresultat/parti/parti/h/. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
- ^ 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
- (Norwegian) Høyre - Official site
- (English) Conservative Party (Høyre) - Information in English
- (Norwegian) Unge Høyre - Official site of the Young Conservatives
- (Norwegian) Høyres Studenterforbund - Site of the Conservative Students' Union
- Election results for the Conservative Party in the 2007 local elections
Political parties in Norway Bracketed numbers indicate current numbers of seats in parliament. Parliament Labour (64) · Progress (41) · Conservative (30) · Socialist Left (11) · Centre (11) · Christian Democratic (10) · Liberal (2)Minor parties1 Red (1.3%) · Pensioners (0.4%) · Green (0.3%) · Coastal (0.2%) · Christian Unity (0.2%) · Democrats (0.1%)1 by % of vote in most recent general election.Portal:Politics - List of political parties - Politics of Norway Categories:- Conservative Party (Norway)
- Liberal-conservative parties
- Political parties in Norway
- International Democrat Union member parties
- Political parties established in 1884
- 1884 establishments in Norway
- Conservative parties in Norway
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