Leader Tore Tømmerdal Split from Pensioners Party Political position Centre-left | Founded 1993 Ideology Social democracy | |
The Social Democrats (Norwegian: Sosialdemokratene) is a minor Norwegian political party. It last ran for election in the 2001 parliamentary election where it received a mere 0.01% of the votes.
History
The party came to after a break with the Pensioners Party and ran for the 1993 election, then under the name Common Future (Felles Framtid). In the 1995 election the name had however been changed into People's Will (Folkets Vilje), and in the 1999 election the party had changed name again, now to the Generation Party (Generasjonspartiet). Its final name, the Social Democrats, was approved for the 2001 election after the Norwegian Labour Party's protest against the name had been dismissed.
In 2002 the party was tried taken over by a group of former Progress Party members with Vidar Kleppe in the lead. This however failed, and Kleppe and his allies instead formed the Democrats, and even though this was originally presented as a continuation of the Social Democrats, both parties were listed as political parties in 2005. By the 2003 election the Social Democrats delivered in several protests against the Democrats' lists on the grounds that it was the Social Democrats who had initially registered the name Democrats. This was however rejected.
The party has never gained representation in any electoral bodies, and since the 2001 election the party was left inactive, mainly caused by an internal struggle by the two main factions "Tømmerdal" and "Borgundvaag". On an internet debate in February 2007, Tore Tømmerdal said "I am not leader or member of the Social Democrats. Neither do I know if it still exists today." According to the webpages of the Bergen Social Democrats, and the party's blog, the party on 6 April 2008 went over to the newly founded local party the Center Alliance. The party seems though to still formally exist as it is still listed as a political party in the Brønnøysund Register Centre, even with Tore Tømmerdal as its leader.