Vidar Kleppe

Vidar Kleppe (born September 16, 1963 in Bergen) is a Norwegian politician. He is a former member of the Progress Party and current leader of the Democrats.

Biography

Kleppe used to be a prominent Progress Party politician, being a member of their national board from 1989 to 1999. He was a member of the Norwegian parliament ("Stortinget") for two periods (1989-1993 and 1997-2001). In 2001, Kleppe was suspended from the Progress Party, in spite of strong opposition to this move in Vestfold's chapter of the party [ [http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/distrikt/ostafjells/vestfold/1.282035 Mange reagerer på suspenderingen] (Many reactions to the suspension, NRK Østafjells, March 8, 2001)] , and many of them went on to form Demokratene (the Democrats). The supension was a restricted to a year only, but Kleppe chose to leave the party and ran in the 2001 Storting election as a candidate for Sørlandslista (Southern List), but unsuccessfully, receiving only 2.8% of the vote. He then went on to found Demokratene in 2002 and became the new party's leader. He currently serves as both a member of Vest-Agder county parliament and Kristiansand Kommunestyre (Kristiansand City Council). He has twice (2001 and 2005) campaigned unsuccessfully for a place in "Stortinget". [ [http://www.vg.no/nyheter/spesial/valg2005/?p=dem VG Nett] page about "Demokratene" for the 2005 election. no icon]

Kleppe has a firm stance against immigration, and this position has led to criticism of Kleppe and his party in the editorial of the Newspaper Telemarksavisa. [ [http://www.ta.no/meninger/sokelys/article1787983.ece Demokratiske Demokrater?] (Democratic Democrats?) Editorial, Telemarksavisa, October 19 2005 no icon]

References