The Free Democrats ( no, Fridemokratene) is a political organization formed by former members of the

Progress Party of Norway The Progress Party ( nb, Fremskrittspartiet; nn, Framstegspartiet; se, Ovddádusbellodat), commonly abbreviated as FrP, is a right-wing political party in Norway. The FrP has traditionally self-identified as classical-liberal and as a libertar ...

in 1994. The 1993 election saw the support of the Progress Party (6.3 percent and 10 representatives) halved. After the

1994 Progress Party national convention The 1994 national convention of the Progress Party of Norway was held from 15 April to 17 April at the hotel Bolkesjø Turisthotell in Bolkesjø, Telemark. It was originally set up to be a normal convention with 157 delegates in a non-election ye ...

several representatives of the "

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

wing" broke out and founded a party more ideologically consistently libertarian, the Free Democrats. Four of the defectors were MPs, and formed an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

group in

Parliament of Norway The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years bas ...

. Its first leader

Ellen Christine Christiansen Ellen Christine Christiansen (born 10 December 1964) is a Norwegian politician representing the Conservative Party and formerly the Progress Party. Born in Oslo, she finished her secondary education at Oslo Commerce School in 1983. She thereupon ...

was among the four MPs, and also served in Oslo city council until 1995. In the Norwegian county elections, 1995 the party received 1,932 votes, 0.09% of the votes. The Free Democrats no longer participate in elections and function merely as a think tank and organization for Norwegian libertarians, regardless of their political allegiance. People associated with the Free Democrats also founded the

online newspaper An online newspaper (or electronic news or electronic news publication) is the online version of a newspaper, either as a stand-alone publication or as the online version of a printed periodical. Going online created more opportunities for newspa ...

'' Liberaleren''.

Issues

According to its webpage, its main policies are: * End

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

* Full

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...

Separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...

Legalization of drugs Drug liberalization is a drug policy process of decriminalizing or legalizing the use or sale of prohibited drugs. Variations of drug liberalization include: drug legalization, drug re-legalization and drug decriminalization. Proponents of drug ...

* Free

immigration Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

Presidents of the Free Democrats

*1994–1996 :

*1996–1998 :

Heidi Nordby Lunde Heidi Nordby Lunde (born 3 February 1973) is a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party. A deputy representative to the Storting, she met regularly from 2013, and has been ordinary member of the Storting since 2017. Political career Lund ...

*1998–1999 : Bent Johan Mosfjell *1999–2000 :

Kristian Norheim Kristian Norheim (born 19 April 1976) is a Norwegian politician who has been a member of the Stortinget as an alternate for State Secretary Bård Hoksrud. He is a member of the Progress Party and an expert on international relations. Early lif ...

*2000–2003 : Hans Jørgen Lysglimt *2003–2005 : Sverre Berg

References

{{Reflist Liberal parties in Norway Political parties established in 1994 1994 establishments in Norway

Issues

Presidents of the Free Democrats

See also

References