Progress (Faroe Islands)

Progress
Framsókn
LeaderRuth Vang
FounderPoul Michelsen
Founded9 March 2011
Split fromPeople's Party
HeadquartersTórshavn, Faroe Islands
Youth wingFramsøkin Ung
IdeologyLiberalism[1]
Faroese independence[1]
Political positionCentre-right
Nordic affiliationCentre Group
Colours  Orange
Løgting
2 / 33
Folketing
(Faroe seats)
0 / 2
Election symbol
Website
www.framsokn.fo

Progress (Faroese: Framsókn) is a liberal, pro-Faroese independence political party on the Faroe Islands.[1] It is led by Ruth Vang.

History

Founded on 9 March 2011 by Poul Michelsen and others as a breakaway from the People's Party, the party won two seats in the October 2011 election to the 33-seat Løgting.[2] Its two MPs in this first election were Poul Michelsen and Janus Rein. However, almost a year after the election, on 6 October 2012, Rein left the party and became an independent member of the Faroese Parliament.[3] He didn't give any clear reason to why he left the party, just that there were some disagreements between him and Poul Michelsen. On the following day, the Faroese website aktuelt.fo, which was run by the newspaper Sosialurin at that time, brought an article saying that the two MPs disagreed on whether Rein should be a candidate for the elections for the city council of Tórshavn or not. The elections for the city councils of the Faroe Islands was to be held on 13 November 2012. Michelsen wanted Rein to be a candidate, but Rein refused and ultimately left the party.[4] A few days later, 25 members of Framsókn wrote an open letter to Rein with an appeal for him to leave his seat in the parliament and give it to the next person on the list. The next person was Hanna Jensen, who took an active part in establishing the party from the beginning.[5] Rein declined to do so. He later joined the People's Party.

In the Løgting election in 2015, Progress got 7.0% of the vote and two seats after polling much higher during the campaign. They subsequently formed a coalition government with Republic and the Social Democrats in which Poul Michelsen became Minister of Business and Foreign Affairs. On 17 September, Annika Olsen, a former Deputy Prime Minister, joined the party. She was previously a member of the People's Party until she left it nine days after the parliamentary election on 9 September 2015. However, after great personal pressure, she chose to leave Framsókn after only 3 days, on 20 September 2015, and took leave from the Løgting for a month.[6]

Leaders

Current members of the Løgting

As of the 2026 general election:

Name Elected (E), Re-elected (R), or Appointed (A) Votes obtained in the general election Title
Ruth Vang R 991 Member of the Løgting
Bjarni K. Petersen R 359 Member of the Løgting

Election results

Faroese general election
Year Votes Seats Position
# % # ±
2011 1,933 6.3
2 / 33
New Increase 5th
2015 2,241 6.9
2 / 33
Steady 0 Steady 5th
2019 1,559 4.6
2 / 33
Steady 0 Decrease 6th
2022 2,571 7.5
3 / 33
Increase 1 Increase 5th
2026 2,319 6.6
2 / 33
Decrease 1 Steady 5th
 
Danish general election
Year Votes Members
# %
2015 744 3.2
0 / 2
2019 638 2.5
0 / 2
2022 936 3.4
0 / 2
2026 Did not contest

References

  1. ^ a b c Nordsieck, Wolfram (2019). "Faroes/Denmark". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  2. ^ "Historisk sejr til lagmanden på Færøerne". Dagbladet Information (in Danish). 30 October 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2012.
  3. ^ Eystportal.fo Janus Rein farin úr Framsókn
  4. ^ Aktuelt.fo Deprecated link archived 2013-02-13 at archive.today Janus Rein vildi ikki stilla upp til býráðið
  5. ^ Kringvarp.fo Vilja hava tingsessin frá Janusi Rein (in Faroese)
  6. ^ Egholm, Sverri (20 September 2015). "Annika Olsen tikið seg úr Framsókn" (in Faroese). portal.fo. Archived from the original on 22 September 2015. Retrieved 18 October 2015.