Norwegian Labour Party

Norwegian Labour Party Det norske arbeiderparti
Leader	Jens Stoltenberg
Parliamentary leader	Helga Pedersen
Founded	1887
Headquarters	Youngstorget 2 A, 5th floor Oslo
Youth wing	Workers' Youth League
Membership	51,500 (2008)[1]
Ideology	Social democracy Democratic socialism[2]
Political position	Centre-left
International affiliation	Socialist International Labour and Socialist International (1938-1940) Comintern (1921-1923)
European affiliation	Party of European Socialists
Official colours	Red
Parliament:
Counties:[3]
Municipalities:[3]
Website
http://arbeiderpartiet.no/
Politics of Norway Political parties Elections

The party headquarters

The Norwegian Labour Party (Norwegian: Det norske arbeiderparti, DNA or Arbeiderpartiet, Ap) is a social-democratic^[4] political party in Norway. It is the senior partner in the current Norwegian government as part of the Red-Green Coalition, and its leader, Jens Stoltenberg, is the current Prime Minister of Norway.

The Labour Party is officially committed to social-democratic ideals. During the last 20 years, the party has included more principles of social market economy in its policy, allowing for privatization of government-held assets and services and reducing income tax progressivity, following the liberal wave of the 1980s.

The Labour Party profiles itself as a progressive party that subscribes to cooperation on a national as well as international level.

The party's youth wing is AUF (Arbeidernes Ungdomsfylking).

History

The party was founded in 1887 in Arendal and first ran in elections to the Storting (parliament) in 1894. It finally entered parliament in 1903 and steadily increased its vote until 1927, when it became the largest party--a position it has retained ever since, often with an absolute majority of parliamentary seats.

From its roots as a radical alternative to the political establishment, the party grew to its current dominance through several eras:

The party experienced a split in 1921 caused by a decision made two years earlier to join the Communist International, and the Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway was formed. In 1923 the party left the Communist International, while a significant minority of its members left the party to form the Communist Party of Norway. In 1927, the social democrats were reunited with Labour.

The first Labour government, led by Christopher Hornsrud, was formed in 1928, lasting only two weeks. During the early 1930s Labour abandoned its revolutionary profile and set a reformist course. Labour then returned to government in 1935 and remained in power until 1965 (except for the World War II exile period between 1940-1945 and one month in 1963). During most of the first twenty years after World War II, Einar Gerhardsen lead the party and the country. He is often referered to as "Landsfaderen" (Father of the Nation), and is generally considered one of the main architects of the rebuilding of Norway after World War II. This is often considered the "golden age" of the Norwegian Labour Party.

The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1938 and 1940.^[5]

Other periods of the Labour Party's leadership of the national government have been 1971-1972, 1973-1981, 1986-1989, 1990-1997, 2000-2001 and since 2005. Thus, the party has held power for 24 of the past 38 years (to 2009) and it is largely through their efforts that the modern welfare state in Norway has been created.

In the election in 2001 the party reached a low point of 24.3% of the popular vote, but was still the largest party in the Storting. In the election of 2005 the party regained support and received 32.7% of the popular vote. It is the leading partner in the centre-left Red-Green Coalition, which won a majority in the 2005 elections. Labour leader Jens Stoltenberg became prime minister and leads a coalition government, the first one that the Norwegian Labour Party has entered. He was previously prime minister from 2000 to 2001.

Party leaders

Votes to the Labour Party in the 2009 election, by county

The Labour Party's number of seats in parliament by county after the 2009 election

• Anders Andersen (1887-88)
• Hans G. Jensen (1888-89)
• Christian Holtermann Knudsen (1889-90)
• Carl Jeppesen (1890-92)
• Ole Georg Gjí¸steen (1892-93)
• Gustav A. Olsen Berg (1893-94)
• Carl Jeppesen (1894-97)
• Ludvig Meyer (1897-1900)
• Christian Holtermann Knudsen (1900-03)
• Christopher Hornsrud (1903-06)
• Oscar Nissen (1906-11)
• Christian Holtermann Knudsen (1911-18)
• Kyrre Grepp (1918-22)
• Emil Stang jr. (1922-23)
• Oscar Torp (1923-45)
• Einar Gerhardsen (1945-65)
• Trygve Bratteli (1965-75)
• Reiulf Steen (1975-81)
• Gro Harlem Brundtland (1981-92)
• Thorbjí¸rn Jagland (1992-2002)
• Jens Stoltenberg (2002-present)

Labour Prime Ministers

• Christopher Hornsrud (1928: 26 January - 15 February)
• Johan Nygaardsvold (1935-1945)
• Einar Gerhardsen (1945-1951)
• Oscar Torp (1951-1955)
• Einar Gerhardsen (1955-1963)
• Einar Gerhardsen (1963-1965)
• Trygve Bratteli (1971-1972, 1973-1976)
• Odvar Nordli (1976-1981)
• Gro Harlem Brundtland (4 February - 14 October 1981, 1986-1989, 1990-1996)
• Thorbjí¸rn Jagland (1996-1997)
• Jens Stoltenberg (2000-2001, 2005 - present)

Parliamentary election results

Parliamentary election results, Arbeiderpartiet.

Campaign booth at Karl Johans gate ahead of the Norwegian local elections, 2007.

References

External links

• (Norwegian) Arbeiderpartiet - Official site
• (English) [1] - Information in English
• Election results for the Labour Party in the 2007 local elections