Progress ( fo, Framsókn) is a liberal, pro- Faroese independence

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

on the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

History

Founded on 9 March 2011 by

Poul Michelsen Poul Johan Sundberg Michelsen (born 22 July 1944 in Tórshavn) is a Faroese business man and former politician. He was the leader of Progress (Framsókn), which he and others established in 2011. Before the establishment of Progress, he was a mem ...

and others as a breakaway from the People's Party, the party won two seats in the October 2011 election to the 33-seat

Løgting The Løgting (pronounced ; da, Lagtinget) is the unicameral parliament of the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory within the Danish Realm. The name literally means "''Law Thing''"—that is, a law assembly—and derives from Old Norse ...

. Its two MPs in this first election were Poul Michelsen and Janus Rein. However, almost a year after the election, on 6 October 2012, Rein left the party and became an independent member of the Faroese Parliament. He didn't give any clear reason to why he left the party, just that there were some disagreements between him and

. On the following day, the Faroese website aktuelt.fo, which was run by the newspaper

Sosialurin ''Sosialurin'' is a Faroese newspaper located in Tórshavn. It is written in the Faroese language. The newspaper, in partnership with Føroya Tele, a Faroese telecom, operates the websitin.fo History The newspaper published its first copy on 27 ...

at that time, brought an article saying that the two MPs disagreed on whether Rein should be a candidate for the elections for the city council of Tórshavn or not. The elections for the city councils of the Faroe Islands was to be held on 13 November 2012. Michelsen wanted Rein to be a candidate, but Rein refused and ultimately left the party. A few days later, 25 members of Framsókn wrote an open letter to Rein with an appeal for him to leave his seat in the parliament and give it to the next person on the list. The next person was Hanna Jensen, who took an active part in establishing the party from the beginning. Rein declined to do so. He later joined the People's Party. In the Løgting election in 2015, Progress got 7.0% of thr vote and two seats after polling much higher during the campaign. They subsequently formed a coalition government with

Republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

and the

Social Democrats Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote so ...

in which Poul Michelsen became Minister of Business and Foreign Affairs. On 17 September, Annika Olsen, a former Deputy Prime Minister, joined the party. She was previously a member of the People's Party until she left it nine days after the parliamentary election on 9 September 2015. However, after great personal pressure, she chose to leave Framsókn after only 3 days, on 20 September 2015, and took leave from the Løgting for a month.

Current members of the Løgting

As of the 2022 general snap election: :a. Ruth Vang succeeds founder of the party

, who left the Logting in March 2020 due to health reasons, as the new MP and leader of the party. The former was listed as #3 on the list, so she was not elected initially as an MP in the 2019 general election. :b. Formerly a member of the People's Party until mid-November 2022.

Election results

Footnotes

External links

*
Progress official website
{{Faroese political parties Political parties in the Faroe Islands Liberal parties in Denmark Classical liberal parties Political parties established in 2011