The Liberal Party (Norwegian: Venstre, lit. 'Left', V; Northern Sami: Gurutbellodat) is a social liberal political party in Norway. It was founded in 1884 and is the oldest political party in Norway. The Liberal Party is positioned on the centre to centre-right of the political spectrum. It is a liberal party which has over time enacted reforms such as parliamentarism, freedom of religion, universal suffrage, and state schooling.
For most of the late 19th and early 20th century, it was Norway's largest and most dominant political party. Later, in the postwar era it lost most of its support and became a smaller party. The party has nevertheless participated in several centrist and centre-right government coalitions in the postwar era and it is aligned with the country's centre-right bloc alongside the Conservative Party, Christian Democratic Party and the Progress Party. Guri Melby has served as the party leader since 2020.
The party was founded in 1884. With support mainly from farmers and progressive members of the bourgeoisie, it was the first political party that came into existence in Norway, and was the dominant governmental party for several decades. It has always had a close relationship with the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights, which was founded in the same year by prominent Liberal Party politicians. The party has played a central role in advocating for women's suffrage in Norway. Since the 1880s the party has seen many internal schisms. A politically moderate and religious wing broke away in 1888 to form the Moderate Liberal Party and the conservative-liberal faction, including the former Prime Minister of Norway Christian Michelsen who broke away in 1909 to form the Free-minded Liberal Party (both parties eventually merged into the Conservative Party). The most notable recent schism was in 1972 when the Liberal Party decided to oppose Norwegian membership in the European Economic Community (EEC). The faction supporting membership broke away and formed the Liberal People's Party. The party has since endorsed Norwegian membership in the EU and is currently a strong proponent.
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History
The party Venstre was formed in 1884 in connection with the dispute about whether or not to introduce parliamentarianism in Norway. Venstre (meaning "Left" in Norwegian) advocated parliamentarianism, whereas the conservatives, who opposed parliamentarianism, formed the party Høyre (meaning "Right" in Norwegian). When the fight for parliamentarianism was won, Venstre's leader Johan Sverdrup became the first Norwegian prime minister to be appointed on the basis of having the support of a majority in the Storting (Norwegian parliament). Later, Venstre advocated universal suffrage for men, which was achieved in 1898, the break-up of the Swedish-Norwegian Union, which happened in 1905, and universal women's suffrage, which was introduced in 1913. In the decades following 1884, Venstre formed several governments, interspersed with periods of Høyre-governments. Six different Prime Ministers of Norway have come from Venstre, all of them before 1935.
In 1891, the more liberal-social tendencies of the party started to dominate Venstre, and as noted by one study, "the majority of social policies up to 1914 were supported and pushed through by Venstre, as the Social Democratic Party had no influence on policy until that date." During the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth Centuries, a number of reforms were carried out by governments formed by Venstre in areas such as working conditions and social welfare.
With the growth of the Labour Party, Venstre gradually lost ground. The election of 1915 was the last in which Venstre was the largest party and won an outright majority in the Storting. Venstre was further weakened with the formation of Bondepartiet (the present-day Centre Party) in 1920, and Christian People's Party in 1933, both of which were formed partly by former Venstre members. Since World War II, Venstre has been part of five coalition governments, the most recent one being Solberg's Cabinet in 2018.
A dispute over Norwegian membership in the European Communities (now the European Union) led to the party splitting at a meeting in Røros in 1972, with the people favoring EC membership departing and forming the Liberal People's Party. These included the party leader, Helge Seip, and 9 of the 13 members of parliament. Since then, Venstre has been a fairly small party. The parliamentary group was reduced to two after the 1973 election.
In 1974, Venstre elected the first female leader of a political party in Norway, Eva Kolstad.
Ideology
The party is regarded as liberal, liberal, and centrist or centre-right. The party advocates civil liberties under the pre-condition of an active state. Since the 1970s, the party has maintained a green liberal position, which was an important part of the party profile when it came back to parliament in the 1990s. The Liberal Party was rated the second best party after the Green Party by the environmentalist organisation Framtiden i våre hender. The party is also a strong supporter of multiculturalism, increased labour immigration to Norway, and relaxed integration measures.
Through its history, it has taken part in both centre-right and pure centrist coalition governments. From 2001 to 2005, it was in a centre-right coalition government with the Conservative Party and Christian Democratic Party; since the 2005 general election, the party has been in opposition. More recently the party has been a proponent of a blue–green alliance in Norwegian politics, with Venstre constituting the green part.
In the last few election campaigns, Venstre's main focus has been on environmental issues, education, small-business and social issues. Venstre advocates higher taxes on activities that damage the environment. Some other positions advocated by Venstre are increased labour immigration, abolition of the Church of Norway as the state church, abolishing the wealth and inheritance taxes, and more power to local authorities (kommuner).
At the national convention in 2005, Venstre decided with a margin of only five votes to still oppose Norway joining the European Union, albeit weakly, while still advocating that Norway remain part of the European Economic Area. In 2020, however, a majority at the national convention voted for Venstre to support EU membership for Norway. Thus, the official stance of Venstre is now in support of Norwegian membership of the European Union. Regardless, the party retains the position that the question of potential Norwegian EU membership should only be decided by a national referendum, similar to referendums held in 1972 and 1994. Venstre additionally supports the replacement of the monarchy with a republican form of government.
In 2007, Venstre became the first Norwegian party to advocate legalizing sharing of copyrighted digital material.
Etymology
While the name of the party means Left in Norwegian, the party refers to itself as a centrist party. Since the Centre Party was a component of the governing centre-left Red-green coalition, and Venstre was part of the "non-socialist" opposition, a situation has been produced where the centre party is more on the left than Left itself. When the name Left was chosen in 1884, the word did not refer to socialism in the way "Left wing" does today. It meant liberal or radicalism in comparison to the conservatives on the right, and referred to the position of the seats in Parliament. The use of the word for "left" in the names of the Danish political parties Venstre and Radikale Venstre is also meant to refer to liberalism and radicalism rather than socialism.
Party leaders
1884 Johan Sverdrup
1884–1889 Ole Anton Qvam
1889–1893 Johannes Steen
1893–1894 Viggo Ullmann
1894–1896 Ole Anton Qvam
1898–1900 Viggo Ullmann
1900–1903 Lars Holst
1903–1909 Carl Berner
1909–1927 Gunnar Knudsen
1927–1940 Johan Ludwig Mowinckel
1945–1952 Jacob S. Worm-Müller
1952–1964 Bent Røiseland
1964–1970 Gunnar Garbo
1970–1972 Helge Seip
1972–1974 Helge Rognlien
1974–1976 Eva Kolstad
1976–1982 Hans Hammond Rossbach
1982–1986 Odd Einar Dørum
1986–1990 Arne Fjørtoft
1990–1992 Håvard Alstadheim
1992–1996 Odd Einar Dørum
1996–2010 Lars Sponheim
2010–2020 Trine Skei Grande
2020– Guri Melby
Prime ministers from Venstre
1884–1889 Johan Sverdrup
1891–1893 Johannes Steen
1898–1902 Johannes Steen
1902–1903 Otto Blehr
1905–1907 Christian Michelsen
1907–1908 Jørgen Løvland
1908–1910 Gunnar Knudsen
1913–1920 Gunnar Knudsen
1921–1923 Otto Blehr
1924–1926 Johan Ludwig Mowinckel
1928–1931 Johan Ludwig Mowinckel
1933–1935 Johan Ludwig Mowinckel