The Faroese People's Party – Radical Self-Government () is a pro-Faroese independence conservative and conservative-liberal political party on the Faroe Islands led by Beinir Johannesen. Founded in 1939 by defectors from the Self-Government Party and former members of the Business Party (Vinnuflokkurin),Folkaflokkurin.fo, Málningur av Thorstein Petersen handaður Fólkaflokkinum the party has traditionally supported greater autonomy for the Faroe Islands. Party leader Hákun Djurhuus served as prime minister from 1963 to 1967, as did Jógvan Sundstein from 1989 to 1991. In 1998, it adopted a policy that supports full independence from Denmark as part of a coalition deal in which leader Anfinn Kallsberg became PM. Throughout the decades, it has formed coalition governments with all Faroese political parties except for Framsókn, with its latest term in government lasting until 2022.Kvf.fo, Sjálvstýrisflokkurin fer úr samgonguni
The party was a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists Party until 2022. The party is affiliated to the International Democrat Union.
History
The party was founded in 1939 as Vinnuflokkurin. The party split from the Self-Government Party over land reform,Wylie (1987), p. 170 and maintained a policy of economic liberalisation and social conservatism, with the party's support based in the fishing industry and private business. The party's economic programme was one of exploitation of local resources to reduce dependence on Denmark, and success of the Sjóvinnubankin was utilised by the party to demonstrate that the Faroes could be economically self-sustaining. The party was given its current name in 1940. In the 1943 Faroese election, the party won 12 out of 25 seats: one short of an overall majority.
The People's Party entered a coalition government with the Social Democratic Party in 1990, breaking the cycle of centre-right and centre-left coalitions.Love et al (2003), p. 146 The party withdrew in 1993, being replaced by left-wing parties. In the 1994 Faroese election, the party lost over a quarter of its vote, remaining outside government. However, it did return in 1996, this time with the Union Party, the Self-Government Party, and the Labour Front.
In the election in 1998, the party bounced back to its pre-1994 position, and entered into a cross-spectrum coalition with the Republican Party and the Self-Government Party,Love et al (2003), pp. 146–7 under which the People's Party adopted a policy of seeking independence. The independence plan failed in 2001, after Denmark threatened to cut economic assistance earlier than anticipated. In the following year's election, the party remained on 21% of the vote, and stayed in a renewed coalition that also included the Centre Party.Love et al (2003), p. 147
When chairman Anfinn Kallsberg decided not to run for re-election, a new election was slated. There were two candidates, former minister of Fishery, Jørgen Niclasen, and current minister of Industry, Bjarni Djurholm. The election on 2 August 2007 gave Jørgen Niclasen the majority of the votes, making him the new party chairman. In the Danish parliamentary elections of 2007 the party received 20.5% of the Faroese vote (down from the 24.1% it had won in 2005) and lost the seat it had previously held in the Danish national Folketing. At the 2008 Faroese election, the party won 20.1% of the popular vote and seven out of 33 seats.
In early elections in 2011, the party won eight seats. In 2013, Janus Rein, who was elected for Progress, joined the Peoples Party after being a member of the Løgting without any political membership for eleven months. After this event, the Peoples Party has nine of the 33 members of the Løgting.
At the general election 2015, the party lost two seats, they got 18.9% of the votes and six members. Eight days after the election, Annika Olsen who had received 961 personal votes, left the People's Party, which means that the party lost one member and now has five parliament members. On 4 February 2016 she became a member of the People's Party again.
Ideology
Generally, the party is liberal conservative. In economics, the party is supportive of the economic liberalism.
The party supports Faroese independence from Denmark. It is one of two major parties (along with Republic) whose primary concern was historically the constitutional issue, rather than economics.Wylie (1987), p. 226
Election results Year Votes Seats Position#%# ± 1940 2,084 24.7% New 2nd 1943 4,010 41.5% 6 1st 1945 5,708 43.4% 1 1st 1946 5,396 41.0% 3 1st 1950 3,750 32.3% 0 1st 1954 2,660 20.9% 2 3rd 1958 2,467 17.8% 1 4th 1962 3,068 20.2% 1 4th 1966 3,811 21.6% 0 3rd 1970 3,617 20.0% 1 4th 1974 4,069 20.5% 0 3rd 1978 4,067 17.9% 1 4th 1980 4,399 18.9% 0 4th 1984 5,446 21.6% 1 2nd 1988 6,692 23.2% 1 1st 1990 6,234 21.9% 1 2nd 1994 4,093 16.0% 1 2nd 1998 5,886 21.3% 2 3rd 2002 6,352 20.8% 1 4th 2004 6,530 20.6% 0 4th 2008 6,240 20.1% 0 3rd 2011 6,883 22.5% 1 2nd 2015 6,102 18.9% 2 3rd 2019 8,290 24.5% 2 1st 2022 6,473 18.9% 2 3rd 2026 9,451 26.75% 3 1st
Leaders Chairmen
Leader From To 1st Jóannes Patursson 1940 1946 2nd Thorstein Petersen 1946 1951 3rd Hákun Djurhuus 1951 1980 4th Jógvan Sundstein 1980 1993 5th Anfinn Kallsberg 1993 2007 6th Jørgen Niclasen 2007 March 2022 7th Christian Andreasen March 2022 Nov. 2022 8th Beinir Johannesen Nov. 2022 present
Current members of the Løgting Following the 2026 general election: NameElected (E), Re-elected (R), or Appointed (A)Votes obtained in the general electionTitleBeinir JohannesenR1,679Member of the Løgting; Parliamentary Leader of the People's PartyBárður á LakjuniR837Member of the LøgtingJørgen NiclasenR661Member of the LøgtingElsebeth Mercedis GunnleygsdóttirR599First Deputy Speaker of the LøgtingJacob VestergaardR553Member of the LøgtingFróði MagnussenR498Member of the LøgtingBill JustinussenR447Member of the LøgtingÁrni SkaaleR405Member of the LøgtingGrímur SundsteinR353Member of the Løgting
Footnotes
References
External links Official web site