Árja

Árja (in northern Sami means commitment) is a Norwegian Sami political party. The party was founded on 24 May 2008 in Jergul, and its leader is Láilá Susanne Vars. The ideology of the party is claimed to be based on respect for the elderly in society and traditionally based education. Otherwise, the party wants a more open and available Sami Parliament, criticise the Sami Parliament for neglecting traditionally Sami values and society and thus want to strengthen the rights for the rural and coastal population.^[1]

The party put up lists in five out of seven constituencies, and ran for its first Sami parliamentary election in 2009 where it immediately broke through as the third largest party, with 10% of the votes and 3 parliamentary representatives.

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