Centre Party (Norway)

Centre Party Senterpartiet
Leader	Trygve Slagsvold Vedum
Parliamentary leader	Marit Arnstad
Founded	19 May 1920 (96 years ago)
Headquarters	Akersgata 35, Oslo
Youth wing	Centre Youth
Membership	15,000 (2013)[1]
Ideology	Centrism[2] Agrarianism[2] Euroscepticism[3]
Political position	Centre[4][5][6][7]
European affiliation	None
International affiliation	None
Colours	Green
Storting	10 / 169
County Councils[8]	79 / 728
Municipal / City Councils[9]	1,774 / 10,781
Sami Parliament	0 / 39
Website
www.senterpartiet.no
Politics of Norway Political parties Elections

The Centre Party (Norwegian: Senterpartiet, Sp) is an agrarian^[10][11] and centrist^[12] political party in Norway Founded in 1920, as a Nordic agrarian party, the Centre Party's policy is not based on any of the major ideologies of the 19th and 20th century, but has a focus on maintaining decentralised economic development and political decision-making.

From its founding until 2000, the party joined only governments not led by the Labour Party, but in 2005 changed its allegiance and joined the Red-Green Coalition government led by the Labour Party.

Since 1972, the Centre Party has opposed Norwegian membership of the European Union, as well as supporting Norway's withdrawal from the European Economic Area and the Schengen Agreement.^[3]

History

The party was founded at the national convention of the Norsk Landmandsforbund during 17 to 19 June 1920, when it was decided by the association to run for the 1921 parliamentary election. In 1922 the association was renamed to the Norwegian Agrarian Association, and the political activity of the group was separated as the Farmers' Party^{[note 1]} (Bondepartiet).^[13]

During the eight decades since the Centre Party was created as a political faction of a Norwegian agrarian organisation, the party has changed a great deal. Only a few years after the creation the party broke with its mother organisation and started developing a policy based on decentralisation, moving away from a single-minded agrarian policy, like that which has trapped many other European Centre Parties' conduct.

The 1930s have in the post-war era been seen as a controversial time in the party's history. This is partly because Vidkun Quisling, who later became leader of Nasjonal Samling, was Minister of Defence in the Farmers Party Kolstad and Hundseid cabinets from 1931-1933. Quisling was however not a member of the Farmers Party.^[14] While there were fascist sympaties among parts of the Farmers Party's electorate, the Farmers Party itself never supported fascism. It was after all the Farmers Party that enabled the first stable Labour cabinet in Norway. In 1935, they reached a compromise with the Labour Party, which led to the Nygaardsvold Cabinet.^[15] In addition, the Farmers Party was represented in the war-time cabinet by Anders Fjeldstad, who served as a consultative concillor of state.^[16] Political scientist Trond Nordby in 2009 also said that the Farmers' Party has been given an undeservably bad reputation from this time, and that the party was not really "as dark brown as some claim".^[17]

In 1959 the party changed their name to the Norwegian Democratic Party — Democrats (Norsk Folkestyreparti - Demokratene), but soon had to change the name again due to election technicalities. In June 1959 the name was changed to the current Centre Party. This happened out of the need to attract an additional electorate with the continuing decline of the agrarian share of the population.^[13] The party's membership numbers peaked at 70,000 in 1971.^[18]

In local elections, the party enjoys strong support in several small municipalities, where the party has a strong influence.

After the 2007 elections, 83^[19] of the mayors in Norway represent the Centre Party. Only the Labour Party has more mayors, and relative to party size, the Centre Party has more mayors than any other.^[20]

The Centre Party had been a part of only non-socialist coalition governments from 1930 to 2000, in seven governments, three of which were led by a Prime Minister from the party. By 2005 however, in the 2005 parliamentary election the party ran for government together with the Labour Party and the Socialist Left Party, as the Red-Green Coalition, with the Centre Party constituting the "green" part of the alliance. The coalition was successful in winning the majority of the seats in the Storting, and negotiations followed with the aim of forming a coalition cabinet led by the Labour Party's leader Jens Stoltenberg. These negotiations succeeded and the Centre Party entered the Second Stoltenberg Cabinet on 17 October 2005 with four ministers. The Red-Greens were re-elected to government in the 2009 election. It has been argued that the party's ideology has moved more towards social democracy in recent years.^[21]

In late 2012 the Centre Party caused controversy in Norway when it emerged that the party had demanded higher import tariffs on meat and hard cheeses to protect Norwegian farmers from foreign competition.^[22] This included increased duties of 429% on lamb, 344% on beef, and 277% on all but 14 exempted hard cheeses.^[23]

The party is known in Norway for their support of high toll tariffs on foreign cheese and meat, called "toll protection",^[24] and their proposal to shoot all wolves in Norway.^[25]

List of party leaders

• Johan E. Mellbye 1920–1921
• Kristoffer Høgset 1921–1927
• Erik Enge 1927–1930
• Jens Hundseid 1930–1938
• Nils Trædal 1938–1948
• Einar Frogner 1948–1954
• Per Borten 1955–1967
• John Austrheim 1967–1973
• Dagfinn Vårvik 1973–1977
• Gunnar Stålsett 1977–1979
• Johan J. Jakobsen 1979–1991
• Anne Enger Lahnstein 1991–1999
• Odd Roger Enoksen 1999–2003
• Åslaug Haga 2003–2008
• Lars Peder Brekk (acting) 2008
• Liv Signe Navarsete 2008–2014
• Trygve Slagsvold Vedum 2014–

Government participation

Governments led by Centre Party Prime Ministers:

• The Government of Peder Kolstad 1930–31 (minority government)
• The Government of Jens Hundseid 1931–32 (minority government)
• The Government of Per Borten 1965–71 (coalition of Sp, H, KrF, and V)

With Prime Ministers from other parties:

• The Government of Lars Korvald (KrF), 1972–73 (coalition of KrF, Sp, and V)
• The Government of Kåre Willoch (H), 1983–86 (coalition of H, KrF, and Sp)
• The Government of Jan P. Syse (H), 1989–90, (coalition of H, KrF, and Sp)
• The first Government of Kjell Magne Bondevik (KrF), 1997–2000 (minority government coalition of KrF, Sp, and V)
• The second Government of Jens Stoltenberg (Ap), 2005–2013 (coalition of Ap, Sp and SV)

Parliamentary election results

Date	Votes			Seats		Size	Notes
	#	%	± pp	#	±
1921	118,657	13.1%	New/+ 8.4	17 / 150	14	4th	succeeding Agrarian Association list
1924	131,706	13.5%	+ 0.4	22 / 150	5	4th
1927	149,026	14.9%	+ 1.5	26 / 150	4	4th
1930	190,220	15.9%	+ 1.0	25 / 150	1	4th	government 1930-32
1933	173,634	13.9%	- 2.0	23 / 150	2	4th
1936	168,038	11.5%	- 2.4	18 / 150	5	4th
1945	119,362	8.0%	- 3.5	10 / 150	8	5th
1949	85,418*	7.9%*	- 0.1	12 / 150	2	4th
1953	157,018*	9.0%*	+ 1.1	14 / 150	2	5th
1957	154,761*	9.3%*	+ 0.3	15 / 150	1	4th
1961	125,643*	9.3%*	0.0	16 / 150	1	3rd
1965	191,702*	9.9%*	+ 0.6	18 / 150	2	4th	government 1965-
1969	194,128*	10.5%*	+ 0.6	20 / 150	2	3rd	government -1971, 1972–73
1973	146,312*	11.0%*	+ 0.5	21 / 155	1	3rd
1977	184,087*	8.6%*	- 2.4	12 / 155	9	4th
1981	103,753*	6.7%*	- 1.9	11 / 155	1	4th	government 1983-
1985	171,770	6.6%	- 0.1	12 / 157	1	4th	government -1986
1989	171,269	6.5%	- 0.1	11 / 165	1	6th	government 1989-90
1993	412,187	16.7%	+ 10.2	32 / 165	21	2nd
1997	204,824	7.9%	- 8.8	11 / 165	21	5th	government 1997-2000
2001	140,287	5.6%	- 2.3	10 / 165	1	6th
2005	171,063	6.5%	+ 0.9	11 / 169	1	6th	government 2005-
2009	165,006	6.2%	- 0.3	11 / 169	0	5th	government -2013
2013	155,357	5.5%	- 0.7	10 / 169	1	5th

• * The Centre Party ran on joint lists with other parties in some constituencies from 1949 to 1981. Vote numbers are from independent Centre Party lists only, while vote percentage also includes the Centre Party's estimated share from joint lists (Statistics Norway estimates).^[26]

See also

• Nordic agrarian parties

Notes

1. Though Bondepartiet is sometimes translated as the "Agrarian Party", sources such as the Centre Party itself and Statistics Norway use the term "Farmers' Party".

References

1. Jens Kihl (20 December 2013) Medlemsras i Senterpartiet Klassekampen. Retrieved 20 December 2013 (Norwegian)
2. Parties and Elections in Europe: The database about parliamentary elections and political parties in Europe, by Wolfram Nordsieck
3. Partienes syn på EU og EØS. Archived October 20, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
4. Clive Archer (2005). Norway outside the European Union. London: Routledge. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-415-28279-6.
5. Hilmar Rommetvedt (2003). The Rise of the Norwegian Parliament. London: Routledge. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-7146-5286-3.
6. Reuven Y. Hazan (2000). Centre Parties. London: Continuum International. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-8264-4763-0.
7. Hauge, Knut A.G. "Syntax Error?". kagh.no. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
8. "Valg 2011: Landsoversikt per parti" (in Norwegian). Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
9. "Senterpartiet". Valg 2011 (in Norwegian). Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 18 September 2011.
10. Svante Ersson; Jan-Erik Lane (1998). Politics and Society in Western Europe. SAGE. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7619-5862-8. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
11. Christina Bergqvist (1999). "Appendix II". Equal Democracies?: Gender and Politics in the Nordic Countries. Nordic Council of Ministers. p. 320. ISBN 978-82-00-12799-4.
12. Frances Nicholson (1990). Political and Economic Encyclopaedia of Western Europe. St. James Press. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-55862-072-8.
13. Tvedt, Knut Are (29 September 2009). "Senterpartiet". Store norske leksikon.
14. Dahl, Hans Fredrik (1991). En fører blir til. Oslo: Aschehoug. p. 165. ISBN 8257409049.
15. Stugu, Ola Svein (2012). Norsk historie etter 1905. Oslo: Det norske samlaget. pp. 91–93. ISBN 978-82-521-7444-1.
16. "Johan Nygaardsvold's Government". regjeringen.no. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
17. Henriksen, Birger (30 June 2009). "Mener Senterpartiet flørter med nasjonalisme". TV2.
18. Røed, Lars-Ludvig (7 January 2009). "Lengre mellom partimedlemmene i dag". Aftenposten.
19. "Flere kvinnelige ordførere". Statistisk sentralbyrå. January 29, 2008. Retrieved 2009-09-04.
20. Helljesen, Geir (March 16, 2007). "Sp vil ha flere ordførere" (in Norwegian). NRK. Retrieved 2009-09-04.
21. Morstøl, Kjersti T. "Fra bondeparti til sosialdemokrati". Universitetsavisa (NTNU). Retrieved 11 November 2009.
22. Berglund, Nina (10 October 2012). "Protests rise over meat and cheese". Views and News from Norway. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
23. "Changes to border protection for selected agricultural products". Government of Norway. Retrieved 29 October 2012.
24. http://www.nationen.no/2012/09/18/nyheter/kronetoll/prosenttoll/toll/importvern/7664280/
25. http://www.nationen.no/2012/09/06/rovdyr/ulv/jakt/rovdyrforlik/fellingstillatelse/7637759/
26. http://www.ssb.no/a/histstat/tabeller/25-3.html

External links

• Official website (Norwegian)
• Sp – Official English-language information page on the Centre Party's ideology
• Election results for the Centre Party in the 2007 local elections (Norwegian)