Centre Party Senterpartiet | |
|---|---|
.svg) | |
| Abbreviation | Sp |
| Leader | Trygve Slagsvold Vedum |
| Parliamentary leader | Marit Arnstad |
| Founded | 19 May 1920; 105 years ago (1920-05-19) |
| Headquarters | Akersgata 35,Oslo |
| Youth wing | Centre Youth |
| Membership(2024) |  15,783[1] |
| Ideology | Euroscepticism |
| Political position | Centre |
| Nordic affiliation | Centre Group |
| Colours | Green |
| Slogan | Nær folk ('Close to people') |
| Storting | 9 / 169 |
| County Councils | 106 / 574 |
| Municipal Councils[2] | 1,274 / 9,344 |
| Sami Parliament | 0 / 39 |
| Website | |
| senterpartiet | |
TheCentre Party (Norwegian:Senterpartiet,Sp;Northern Sami:Guovddášbellodat), formerly theFarmer's Party[nb 1] (Norwegian:Bondepartiet,Bp), is anagrarianpolitical party inNorway.[5]
Ideologically, the Centre Party is positioned in thecentre on the political spectrum,[6] it advocates foreconomic nationalist andprotectionist policy to protect Norwegian farmers with toll tariffs,[7] and it supportsdecentralisation.[7] It was founded in 1920 as the Farmers' Party[nb 1] (Norwegian:Bondepartiet, Bp) and from its founding until 2000, the Centre Party joined only governments not led by theLabour Party, although it had previously supported aLabour government in the 1930s.[8] This turned around in 2005, when the party joined thered–green coalition government led by the Labour Party. Governments headed by prime ministers from the party include the short-livedKolstad andHundseid's Cabinet between 1931 and 1933 and the longer-lastingBorten's Cabinet from 1965 until 1971.
The Centre Party has maintained a strong stance againstNorwegian membership in theEuropean Union,[9] successfully campaigning against Norwegian membership in both the1972 and1994 referendums, during which time the party saw record-high election results. Subsequently, the party proposed Norway's withdrawal from theEuropean Economic Area and theSchengen Agreement.[9] In 2017, party deputy leaderOla Borten Moe declarednationalism to be a "positive force".[10]
The party was founded at the national convention of theNorsk Landmandsforbund during 17–19 June 1920, when it was decided by the association to run for the1921 Norwegian parliamentary election. In 1922, the association was renamed to theNorwegian Agrarian Association and the political activity of the group was separated as the Farmers' Party (Bondepartiet).[11]
During the eight decades since the Centre Party was created as a political faction of a Norwegianagrarian organisation, the party has changed a great deal. Only a few years after its creation, the party broke with its mother organisation and started developing a policy based ondecentralisation. The 1930s have in the post-war era been seen as a controversial time in the party's history. This is partly becauseVidkun Quisling, who later became the leader ofNasjonal Samling, was Minister of Defence in the Farmers PartyKolstad andHundseid cabinets from 1931 to 1933. However, Quisling was not a member of the Farmers Party.[12] While there were fascist sympathies among parts of the Farmers Party's electorate, the Farmers Party itself never supportedfascism and it was the Farmers' Party that enabled the first stable Labour cabinet in Norway. In 1935, they reached a compromise with theLabour Party which led to theNygaardsvold Cabinet.[13] In addition, the Farmers' Party was represented in the war-time cabinet byAnders Fjelstad, who served as a consultative councillor of state.[14] Political scientistTrond Nordby argues that the Farmers' Party has been given an undeservably bad reputation from this time and that the party was not really "as dark brown as some claim".[15]
In 1959, the party briefly changed its name to the Norwegian Democratic Party – Democrats (Norsk Folkestyreparti – Demokratene), but it soon had to change the name again due to election technicalities. In June 1959, the name was changed to the current Centre Party. This happened out of the need to attract an additional electorate with the continuing decline of the agrarian share of the population.[11] The party's membership numbers peaked at 70,000 in 1971.[16] From 1927 to 1999, the party published the newspaperFylket.[17]
In local elections, the party has enjoyed strong support in several small municipalities, where the party has a strong influence. After the2007 Norwegian local elections, 83 of themayors in Norway represented the Centre Party.[18] Only the Labour Party had more mayors and the Centre Party had more mayors than any other, relative to party size.[19]
The Centre Party had been a part of bothcentrist andcentre-right coalition governments from 1963 to 2000 and in six governments, one of which were led by aPrime Minister from the party. Since the2005 Norwegian parliamentary election, the party ran for government together with the Labour Party and theSocialist Left Party as thered–green coalition, with the Centre Party constituting the green part of the alliance. The coalition was successful in winning the majority of the seats in theStorting and negotiations followed with the aim of forming a coalition cabinet led by the Labour Party's leaderJens Stoltenberg. These negotiations succeeded and the Centre Party entered theSecond Stoltenberg Cabinet on 17 October 2005 with four ministers. The Red–Greens were re-elected to government in the2009 Norwegian parliamentary election. It has been argued that the party's ideology moved more towardssocial democracy at the end of the 1980s.[20]
The party is known for its support of high toll tariffs on foreign cheese and meat called "toll protection"[21] as well as their proposal to shoot all wolves in Norway.[22] However, this has lately been rejected as the party's policy bySandra Borch, the predator policies spokesperson of the Centre Party, who in a 2020 interview given on the debate program toDagsnytt 18 onNRK1 stated that "[t]he Centre Party has never proposed to exterminate the wolf. We want substainable management of predators", adding that "[w]hat the Centre Party has been a part of, together with the Liberal Party in a broad agreement in the Storting, is that we will have 4-6 breeding wolf packs in Norway."[23]
The party was also in charge of implementing theBerne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats in 1986. The Centre Party'sRakel Surlien was Minister of the Environment when Norway ratified the Berne Convention, so that protection of wolves became Norwegian law. The Berne Convention was otherwise adopted by a unanimousStorting, which also included all MPs from the Centre Party.[24]
In late 2012, the Centre Party caused controversy in Norway when it emerged that the party had demanded higher import tariffs on meat and hard cheeses to protect Norwegian farmers from foreign competition.[25] This included increased duties of 429% on lamb, 344% on beef and 277% on all but 14 exempted hard cheeses.[26]
Since the leadership ofTrygve Slagsvold Vedum during years in opposition, the party has been described aspopulist by several sources.[7][27][28][29] Vedum's first parliamentary election as leader, in2017, saw the party nearly double its vote and seat total. At the2021 election, the party won a further nine seats, bringing their total to 28. It was the party's best result since1993 and the second-best result in party history. The Centre Party re-entered government, supportingLabour Party Prime MinisterJonas Gahr Støre. Vedum becamefinance minister in the new government.[30]
The Centre Party withdrew from the Labour government in January 2025.[31] Labour governed as a minority government until the2025 election.[32] Following the Centre Party's exit from government, the Labour Party saw a rebound in the polls after former Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg replaced Vedum as Finance Minister.[33] In the 2025 election, the Centre Party's support collapsed, securing just nine seats (a decrease of 19) with 5.6% of the vote, the worst result in the party’s history.[34] Despite the collapse of the Centre Party, Labour, Centre, and other left-of-centre parties were able to secure a majority of seats in the Storting.[35]
Governments led by Centre Party Prime Ministers:
With Prime Ministers from other parties:
| Election | Leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1921 | Kristoffer Høgset | 118,657 | 13.1 | 17 / 150 |  14 | 4th | Opposition |
| 1924 | 131,706 | 13.5 | 22 / 150 | 5 |  4th | Opposition | |
| 1927 | Erik Enge | 149,026 | 14.9 | 26 / 150 | 4 | 4th | Opposition |
| 1930 | Jens Hundseid | 190,220 | 15.9 | 25 / 150 | 1 | 4th | Opposition(1930–1931) |
| Minority(1931–1933) | |||||||
| 1933 | 173,634 | 13.9 | 23 / 150 | 2 | 4th' | Opposition | |
| 1936 | 168,038 | 11.5 | 18 / 150 | 5 | 4th | External support | |
| 1945 | Nils Trædal | 119,362 | 8.0 | 10 / 150 | 8 | 5th | Opposition |
| 1949[a] | Einar Frogner | 85,418 | 7.9 | 12 / 150 | 2 | 4th | Opposition |
| 1953[a] | 157,018 | 9.0 | 14 / 150 | 2 | 5th | Opposition | |
| 1957[a] | Per Borten | 154,761 | 9.3 | 15 / 150 | 1 | 4th | Opposition |
| 1961[a] | 125,643 | 9.3 | 16 / 150 | 1 | 3rd | Opposition(1961–1963) | |
| Coalition(1963) | |||||||
| Opposition(1963–1965) | |||||||
| 1965[a] | 191,702 | 9.9 | 18 / 150 | 2 | 4th | Coalition | |
| 1969[a] | John Austrheim | 194,128 | 10.5 | 20 / 150 | 2 | 3rd | Coalition(1969–1971) |
| Opposition(1971–1972) | |||||||
| Coalition(1972–1973) | |||||||
| 1973[a] | Dagfinn Vårvik | 146,312 | 11.0 | 21 / 155 | 1 | 3rd | Opposition |
| 1977[a] | Gunnar Stålsett | 184,087 | 8.6 | 12 / 155 | 9 | 4th | Opposition |
| 1981[a] | Johan J. Jakobsen | 103,753 | 6.7 | 11 / 155 | 1 | 4th | Opposition(1981–1983) |
| Coalition(1983–1985) | |||||||
| 1985 | 171,770 | 6.6 | 12 / 157 | 1 | 4th | Coalition(1983–1986) | |
| Opposition(1986–1989) | |||||||
| 1989 | 171,269 | 6.5 | 11 / 165 | 1 | 6th | Coalition(1989–1990) | |
| External support(1990–1993) | |||||||
| 1993 | Anne Enger Lahnstein | 412,187 | 16.7 | 32 / 165 | 21 | 2nd | Opposition |
| 1997 | 204,824 | 7.9 | 11 / 165 | 21 | 5th | Coalition(1997–2000) | |
| Opposition(2000–2001) | |||||||
| 2001 | Odd Roger Enoksen | 140,287 | 5.6 | 10 / 165 | 1 | 6th | Opposition |
| 2005 | Åslaug Haga | 171,063 | 6.5 | 11 / 169 | 1 | 6th | Coalition |
| 2009 | Liv Signe Navarsete | 165,006 | 6.2 | 11 / 169 | | 5th | Coalition |
| 2013 | 155,357 | 5.5 | 10 / 169 | 1 | 5th | Opposition | |
| 2017 | Trygve Slagsvold Vedum | 301,348 | 10.3 | 19 / 169 | 9 | 4th | Opposition |
| 2021 | 402,481 | 13.6 | 28 / 169 | 9 | 3rd | Coalition(2021–2025) | |
| Opposition(2025) | |||||||
| External support(2025) | |||||||
| 2025 | 179,994 | 5.6 | 9 / 169 | 19 | 5th | External support |
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(in Norwegian)