1994 Progress Party national convention

Both during the preceding months and on the opening day, resolutions were passed which ensured full dominance for Carl I. Hagen and the policies of his faction.

Wibe resigned as deputy leader, and Carl I. Hagen's men (there were no women left in the leadership) also dominated the new central committee.

In July the Youth of the Progress Party dissolved itself in protest of the events; however, a new, loyal organization immediately surfaced.

Jan Simonsen stepped down as deputy leader, and Ellen Wibe succeeded him, being one of the very few women in the Progress Party's leadership.

MPs Tor Mikkel Wara and Petter Bjørheim announced their intentions to leave politics after the end of their terms,[4] as did Pål Atle Skjervengen.

[5] Jan Erik Fåne tried to win renomination, but the nomination meeting in Akershus put traditionalist Fridtjof Frank Gundersen on top of the ballot.

The issue of libertarianism became more pressing in the campaign for the 1993 Norwegian parliamentary election, when Carl I. Hagen said to Verdens Gang that he did not support cutting the income tax.

The leader of the Youth of the Progress Party, Lars Erik Grønntun, had been on the verge of stepping down, but was persuaded around the end of 1993 to run for re-election.

In an interview, Wibe said that the party was too similar to a "charismatic movement", and that she wanted more power to the central board (Norwegian: sentralstyre).

[11] Øystein Hedstrøm announced a possible motion of no confidence regarding Ellen Wibe's position as deputy party leader, even though she was not really up for election until 1995.

Here, Hagen proposed to close the debate on "the party profile and choice of values", a motion which gained support from 11 of the 24 board members.

[16] The next two months was a quiet period, and Øystein Hedstrøm stated that Wibe had taken a more responsible role, and thus there was no need for a motion of no confidence.

[17] News commentator Aslak Bonde remarked that the compromise reached by the factions was "unclear" and that antagonism could surface at the national convention.

[18] Wibe stated that her faction still intended to submit a resolution, a "constructive" proposal regarding tactical and organizational issues.

[29] Hagen's main resolution proposal, titled En fremtid med rot i fortiden, was passed with 94 against 50 votes.

[32] From the rostrum, the "band of four" was even asked to withdraw by several delegates, including Bjørn Andreassen, Gustav Hareide and Frøydis Lange.

[41] In the news program Dagsrevyen on 17 April, the band of four stated a desire to follow the 1993 party platform and not later resolutions.

[35] Hillgaar publicly lamented the "Moscow processes" of the 1994 national convention, and also the views on women and the "extreme xenophobia" which he felt was conveyed by the party program.

[48] The Progress Party county leader in Akershus, Per Aage Pleym Christensen, also reconsidered his position,[41] leaving on 4 May.

It was speculated that the deputy representatives for Bråthen and Wetterstad, Per Aage Pleym Christensen in Akershus and Geir Thoresen in Buskerud, would follow.

In May Verdens Gang announced that a forthcoming extraordinary national convention, spearheaded by Lars Erik Grønntun, would cut its ties with the Progress Party.

[59] Two days before the national convention, the central committee convened and supported a dissolution of the Youth of the Progress Party.

[64] Already before the national convention, the entire local party chapter in Osterøy was disestablished, but mainly due to the European Union controversy.

[65] One day after the national convention, delegate Kristian Eidesvik announced his withdrawal from the party, though he would sit through his tenure as member of Hordaland county council, which lasted until 1995.

[67] The same day former MP and youth wing leader Pål Atle Skjervengen withdrew, commenting that the libertarians "are asked by the party leadership to go to hell".

[74] Municipal and county council member Liv Skrede left after the youth wing's national convention in July,[75] so did Tor Mikkel Wara,[76] Ellen Wibe, Jan Erik Fåne and Petter Bjørheim.

[64] Hordaland county council member Lene C. Møgster Løtvedt left and joined the Conservative Party in October.

[77] Already during the national convention, the Youth of the Progress Party agreed to form an informal "thinking group" for disenfranchised members.

[71] With some time passed since the Bolkesjø convention, it was decided to hold a formal conference to form a support group in mid-June.

Two hundred people joined, and it had four county leaders; Per Aage Pleym Christensen for Akershus, Geir Thoresen for Buskerud, the former city council secretary Roy Venge Tollefsen in Oslo and Thor Simonsen in Østfold.