The parties

There have been several parties participating in Faroese politics throughout time, but today there are only six parties represented in the Parliament. They are all, except one, parties with long traditions in Faroese politics. The youngest, the Centre Party, was founded in 1992 and was elected into the Parliament in 1994.

There has been a tradition on the islands for flexible coalitions. This is shown on the illustrations, wich shows the number of members of Parliament. The pillars for the years are coloured dark green, when the parties were in a coalition.

The oldest Faroese party is the Unionist Party (Sambandsflokkurin), founded in 1906. It is a conservative party advocating continued membership of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is no surprise, that the Independence Party (Sjálvstýrisflokkurin) was established the same year. The party is a social liberalistic party that gradually wants to obtain further independence for the islands. The Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin), which was founded in 1925, has historically been a unionist party, because it thinks the standard of living will drop when independence is declared. The Conservative Party (Fólkaflokkurin) was founded in 1940. The party wants indepence from Denmark, but also focuses heavily on the economy. The Republican Party (Tjóðveldisflokkurin) has much focus on the issue of independence. The party was founded in 1948, and it is historically a socialistic party. The youngest party is The Centre Party (Miðflokkurin), founded in 1992. The party is a centrist party and it wants independence from Denmark. However, the party focuses mainly on christian values.