Liberal People's Party (Norway)

Det Liberale Folkeparti ("The Liberal People's Party", DLF) was established because of a split in the Norwegian liberal party Venstre (literally, "Left") in 1972 over the issue of Norway's accession to the European Economic Community. The new party, formed by the pro-EEC minority of Venstre, wanted to call itself "Folkepartiet Nye Venstre" ("The Popular Party - New Left"), but was denied the use of this name, as it was deemed too similar to "Venstre". Instead, the party called itself "Det Nye Folkepartiet" ("The New Peoples's Party") The name was changed in 1980 to "Det Liberale Folkepartiet". At the time of the split, 9 of Venstre's 13 members of the Storting joined the new party. At the 1973 election, DNF only won one seat, from Hordaland (Venstre won two seats). At the next election, in 1977, it lost this seat, and was never represented in parliament again. The party's popularity went down throughout the 1980s. In the local elections in 1987 Venstre and DLF ran on common lists in several counties and municipalities. In 1988, it was decided to officially merge with Venstre. In 1992, some of the old members decided to recreate DLF. The new party was later taken over by a group of libertarians and former members of the Progress Party.

See also: "Liberal People's Party, 1992-present

Party leaders

*1988 Marit Bjorvatn
*1986-88 Alice Ruud
*1982-86 Øyvind Bjorvatn
*1980-82 Gerd Søraa
*1978-80 Ingvar Lars Helle
*1973-78 Magne Lerheim
*1972-73 Helge Seip

ee also

*Liberalism
*Contributions to liberal theory
*Liberalism worldwide
*List of liberal parties
*Liberal democracy
*Liberalism in Norway