Progress Party (Denmark)

Infobox_Political_Party
name_english = Progress Party
name_native = Fremskridtspartiet
party_
colorcode = yellow
leader = Ove Jensen
foundation = 1972
headquarters = Stationsmestervej 11
9200 Aalborg SV
ideology = Nationalism, Liberalism
international = "None"
website = http://www.fremskridtspartiet.dk/
The Progress Party ( _da. Fremskridtspartiet) is a Danish political party, formed in 1972. Its founder, the former lawyer Mogens Glistrup, gained huge popularity in Denmark after he appeared on Danish television, showing that he paid 0 % in income tax. The party was placed on the far right of the political spectrum, as it supported political and economic liberalism, believed in radical tax cuts (including removing the income tax altogether), and also vowed to cut government spending. An example is the suggestion to replace the entire department of defence with an answering machine with the recorded message "we surrender" in Russian. The party entered the Danish parliament, the "Folketing", the same year in the 1973 Danish parliamentary election with 28 out of 179 seats, making it the second-largest party of the parliament, though it did not form a part of the ruling coalition because the others parties refused to cooperate with it. During the 1980s the party increased its influence, however it ended abruptly due to internal strife.

The party gradually lost most of the support it had among the population, and in 1995, a number of party members rebelled (after a long internal fight for power), most notably Pia Kjærsgaard, the leader at that time of the Progress Party, and formed the Danish People's Party.

By the time of the 2001 parliamentary election, the Progress Party had lost almost all of its support and received less than one percent of the vote. The party did not run in the 2005 parliamentary election, nor in the 2007 parliamentary election. It did however run for the local and regional elections in November 2005. The party generally received less than one percent of the votes (though with several local exceptions), and got one member elected in the county of Morsø.

Political leaders

* 1971-1985: Mogens Glistrup
* 1985-1995: Pia Kjærsgaard
* 1995-1999: Kirsten Jacobsen
* 1999-2001: Aage Brusgaard
* 2001-2003: Aase Heskjær
* 2003-2006: Jørn Herkild
* 2006-2007: Henrik Søndergård
* 2007-: Ove Jensen

Organisatorial leaders

* Ulrik Poulsen, 1974
* Palle Tillisch, 1975-1976
* A. Roland Petersen, 1976-1979
* V.A. Jacobsen, 1980-1984
* Poul Sustmann Hansen, 1984
* Ove Jensen, 1984
* Helge Dohrmann, 1984-1985
* Annette Just, 1985-1986
* Johannes Sørensen, 1987-1993
* Poul Lindholm Nielsen, 1994
* Johannes Sørensen, 1995-1999
* Per Larsen, 1999
* Aage Brusgaard, 1999-2001
* Aase Heskjær, 2001-2003
* Jørn Herkild, 2003-2006
* Henrik Søndergård, 2006-2007
* Ove Jensen, 2007-

References

External links

* [http://fremskridtspartiet.dk Fremskridtspartiet]
* [http://fremskridtspartiets-ungdom.dk Fremskridtspartiets Ungdom (Youth Organisation)]