From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Coastal Party (Kystpartiet), is a Norwegian political party. It was formally founded in 1999 although the party participated, and won one seat, in the 1997 parliamentary election under the name Tverrpolitisk folkevalgte. The party's charismatic leader Steinar Bastesen, a fisherman and whale hunter, was elected to the parliament for a second period in 2001. In 2005 the party announced that they would for the first time participate in the parliamentary election in all of Norway's 19 counties, although two of them do not have a coastline. This is important for all political parties, however, as it is the only way to secure a place in the national pre-election television debates. On March 13 2005, the party convention elected Roy Waage, a former member of the Christian Democratic Party, as the new party leader.
The Coastal Party is to a very large degree regionally based. In the 2005 parliamentary election, 59% of their votes came from the three northernmost counties, Finnmark, Troms and Nordland. Their best result came in Troms, where they won 8.6% of the votes. In two municipalities, Karlsøy and Skjervøy, they even became the largest party. In the country as a whole however, they only won 0.8% of the votes, down from 1.7% in 2001, and the party lost its only seat in the Storting.
[edit] Party leaders
[edit] References
[edit] External links
