Labour Party (Norway)

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 Comintern and the Social Democratic Labour Party of Norway was formed. In 1923, the party left the Comintern 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. Some Communists also joined Labour whereas other Communists tried a failed merger endeavor which culminated in the formation of the Arbeiderklassens Samlingsparti. The same year, Helga Karlsen became the party's first Member of Parliament.^[18]

In 1928,

The Labour Party later formed government in the periods of 1971–1972, 1973–1981, 1986–1989, and 1990–1997. Labour prime ministers in this period included party veterans Oscar Torp, Trygve Bratteli, and Gro Harlem Brundtland, and the party remained the largest in Norway throughout the remainder of the 20th century.

21st century

In the year 2000, the centre-right coalition led by Kjell Magne Bondevik of the Christian Democrats was toppled in a confidence vote, and the Labour Party returned to power under Jens Stoltenberg, who became prime minister. However, after a period of intense infighting between Stoltenberg and former prime minister Thorbjørn Jagland, and a turbulent spell in government, the party collapsed to only 24.3% of the vote in the 2001 Norwegian parliamentary election, marking its worst result since 1924. The party returned to the opposition under Stoltenberg's leadership, before later recovering to 32.7% in the 2005 Norwegian parliamentary election. The Labour Party subsequently formed its first ever peace-time coalition government along with the Socialist Left and Centre parties. Their cooperation was dubbed the Red-green coalition, in emulation of similar constellations in Germany.

In 2011, the party changed its official name from the Norwegian Labour Party (Det norske arbeiderparti) to the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet). The party claimed there had been confusion among voters at polling stations because of the difference between the official name and the common use name of Labour Party. The name change caused Arbeiderpartiet to appear on the ballot, eliminating any potential confusion.^[20][21] On 22 July 2011, a terrorist opened fire at the Labour Party's youth camp (ages 13–25), killing 69 people and killing eight more in Oslo with a bomb towards a government building (which was led by the Labour Party). Stoltenberg's initial response to the 22 July attack was well received by the Norwegian public. As he reaffirmed his government's commitment to the values of openness and tolerance in the face of adversity or intolerance his approval rating soared as high as 94%, only to decrease sharply after the 22 July Commission report highlighted the laggard response time of police cost dozens of lives.^[22][23]

In the 2013 Norwegian parliamentary election, the Red-green coalition lost its majority in the Storting, but the Labour Party remained the largest party in the Storting. Jens Stoltenberg, who had served as prime minister for 10 of the past 13 years, remained party leader until he stepped down in 2014 after being appointed Secretary General of NATO. Later, Jonas Gahr Støre, a prominent profile in the Stoltenberg government, was chosen as new party leader on 14 June 2014.^[24] In the 2017 Norwegian parliamentary election, he led the party to a surprise defeat, as Labour fell 3.4 percentage points to 27.4%, and from 55 to 49 seats in the Storting, while the Conservative Party managed to retain a majority along with its smaller centre-right partners. Erna Solberg, Conservative prime minister since 2013, remained in office throughout the 2017—2021 term. In the same year, the Labour Party was targeted by hackers suspected to be from Russia.^[25]

In 2021, the Labour Party returned to government after eight years in opposition, following the

The Labour Party organisation is divided into county- and municipality-level chapters, numbering approximately 2,500 associations in total.[29] Historically, the party has maintained a close association with the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO), and until the mid-1990s, a dual-membership agreement existed between the two organizations, with LO members automatically holding (indirect) membership in the Labour Party as well. The party had about 200,500 members at its peak in 1950.^[30] No records were kept about direct membership or indirect membership figures.^[31] The dual-membership clause was scrapped in 1995, and that year its membership level fell to just over 72,500 from 128,000 in 1990.^[32] In 1997, that figure dropped to 64,000 in 1997.^[33] In 2021, the party comprised 45,553 members according to its own official website.^[34] Since 2005, the party has maintained a policy requiring full gender parity at every level of organisation above ordinary membership.^[35]

The supreme body of the party is the Party Congress which is held every two years. The most senior body between these congresses is the National Delegate's Meeting which is made up of the party's Executive Board and two delegates from each of the 19 counties.^[29] The Executive Board itself consists of 16 elected members as well as the leadership of the party.^[29] The party is headed by a single leader, while the number of deputy leaders has fluctuated between one and two in different periods. As of 2022, the party leadership is made up of leader Jonas Gahr Støre, who has held the position since 2014, and deputy leader Bjørnar Selnes Skjæran, who was first elected to the position in 2021.

The party's youth organisation is the

Labour Party prime ministers

1. Christopher Hornsrud (January–February 1928)
2. Johan Nygaardsvold (1935–1945)^[a]
3. Einar Gerhardsen (1945–1951)
4. Oscar Torp (1951–1955)
5. Einar Gerhardsen (1955–1963), (1963–1965)
6. Trygve Bratteli (1971–1972, 1973–1976)
7. Odvar Nordli (1976–1981)
8. Gro Harlem Brundtland (February–October 1981, 1986–1989, 1990–1996)
9. Thorbjørn Jagland (1996–1997)
10. Jens Stoltenberg (2000–2001, 2005–2013)
11. Jonas Gahr Støre (2021–present)

Electoral results

Graphical summary

Parliamentary elections

Storting

Date	Votes			Seats		Position	Size
	#	%	± pp	#	±
1894	520	0.3	New	0 / 114	New	Extra-parliamentary	4th
1897	947	0.6	0.3	0 / 114		Extra-parliamentary	4th
1900	7,013	3.0	2.4	0 / 114		Extra-parliamentary	4th
1903	22,948	9.7	6.7	5 / 117	5	Opposition	5th
1906	43,134	15.9	6.2	10 / 123	5	Opposition	3rd
1909	91,268	21.5	5.6	11 / 123	1	Opposition	4th
1912	128,455	26.2	4.7	23 / 123	12	Opposition	2nd
1915	198,111	32.0	5.8	19 / 123	4	Opposition	3rd
1918	209,560	31.6	0.4	18 / 123	1	Opposition	3rd
1921	192,616	21.3	10.3	29 / 150	11	Opposition	3rd
1924	179,567	18.4	2.9	24 / 150	5	Opposition	3rd
1927	368,106	36.8	18.4	59 / 150	35	Opposition[b]	1st
1930	374,854	31.4	5.4	47 / 150	12	Opposition	1st
1933	500,526	40.1	8.7	69 / 150	22	Opposition (1933–1935)	1st
						Minority (from 1935)
1936	618,616	42.5	2.4	70 / 150	1	Majority	1st
1945	609,348	41.0	1.5	76 / 150	6	Coalition (1945, Ap–H–V–Sp–NKP)	1st
						Majority
1949	803,471	45.7	4.7	85 / 150	9	Majority	1st
1953	830,448	46.7	1.0	77 / 150	8	Majority	1st
1957	865,675	48.3	1.6	78 / 150	1	Majority	1st
1961	860,526	46.8	1.5	74 / 150	4	Minority (1961–1963)	1st
						Opposition (1963)
						Minority (from 1963)
1965	883,320	43.1	3.7	68 / 150	6	Opposition	1st
1969	1,004,348	46.5	3.4	74 / 150	6	Opposition (1969–1971)	1st
						Minority (1971–1972)
						Opposition (from 1972)
1973	759,499	35.3	11.2	62 / 155	12	Minority	1st
1977	972,434	42.3	7.0	76 / 155	14	Minority	1st
1981	914,749	37.1	5.2	65 / 155	11	Opposition	1st
1985	1,061,712	40.8	3.7	71 / 157	6	Opposition (1985–1986)	1st
						Minority (from 1986)
1989	907,393	34.3	6.5	63 / 165	8	Opposition (1989–1990)	1st
						Minority
1993	908,724	36.9	2.6	67 / 165	4	Minority	1st
1997	904,362	35.0	1.9	65 / 165	2	Opposition (1997–2000)	1st
						Minority (2000–2001)
2001	612,632	24.3	10.7	43 / 165	22	Opposition	1st
2005	862,456	32.7	8.4	61 / 169	18	Coalition (Ap–Sp–SV)	1st
2009	949,060	35.4	2.7	64 / 169	3	Coalition (Ap–Sp–SV)	1st
2013	874,769	30.8	4.6	55 / 169	9	Opposition	1st
2017	801,073	27.4	3.4	49 / 169	6	Opposition	1st
2021	783,394	26.3	1.1	48 / 169	1	Coalition minority (Ap–Sp)	1st

Notes