Socialist Left Party (Norway)

The Socialist Left Party (Sosialistisk Venstreparti in Norwegian) is a socialist political party in Norway. It was founded in 1973.

History

SV was originally founded as the Socialist Electoral League. It was founded by a confederation of different socialist parties within the country. In its first year, it won 16 seats in the Parliament. In 1975, it was decided that the confederation should be merged into one singular entity, hence the SV. It's popularity grew greatly in the 1980s, when it fought for issues such as world peace, removal of economic disparities, and disarmament.

The popularity began to decline again in the early 1990s. In 1993, they held only 13 seats in the Norwegian Parliament. The unpopularity remained through the 1990s, regardless of staunch support for a referendum against Norway's entrance into the European Union. After the election of Kristin Halvorsen as the new party leader in 1997, however, popularity again began to rise. She achieved an unprecedented level of consensus within the party, a problem which many socialist parties struggle with to this day.

Politics

The SV, like many other leftist organizations, opposed the American involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq. They did, however, support NATO bombings in Kosovo during the ethnic cleansing by Slobodan Milošević. According the party program from 2005-present, the United States is the "greatest threat to world peace."

The Party Today

The party currently holds 15 seats in the parliament. The party's current leader threatened to leave politics in 2007 if universal kindergarten had not been implemented. As of September 21, 2008, this has yet to be accomplished.

External Links

• Encyclopedia II - Socialist Left Party
• SV's historie, translated from Norwegian by Google Language Tools.