Republicanism in Norway
Currently, the Norwegian Republican Association (Norge som republikk) is the only non-partisan organisation campaigning to abolish the monarchy and make Norway a republic.
According to the Norwegian lexicon SNL, it is believed that the country was united as one kingdom by Harald Hårfagre in 872.
Christian Michelsen was the Leader of the Liberal Party and had broad support as a republican, but he deemed it too radical to suggest transitioning the country into a republic.
[1] The thought of a republic had reached Norway after the dissolution of the union with Denmark almost one hundred years earlier.
[5] The beginning of the dissolution of the union with Sweden at the end of the nineteenth century strengthened a distrust of the monarchy.
[6] A group of 44 "leading citizens of the day", some of them members of the Storting, signed a petition on 16 October 1905 to promote the republic and to demand a referendum on the future form of government.
King Oscar II of Sweden declined the offer from Norway and did not want his son to sit on the Norwegian throne.
Members of the Parliament that supported the republic argued that Norway had been fine without a king since the decision to exit the union with Sweden.
Minister for Finance Gunnar Knudsen would rather resign than to go along with Michelsen's plan to give the crown to Prince Carl of Denmark.
[6] The monarchists in Parliament and the republicans that supported Michelsen and Danish Prince Carl was scared that Norway as a republic would pose as a threat to other European monarchies.
[2] In 2013 the news agency TV 2 asked the Norwegian people how they felt about the monarchy and about the individual monarchs.
Most people that were asked believed that Queen Sonja is very important to King Harald in relation to counselling, advice and support.
[13] Accusations of rape[14] and the subsequent imprisonment of Marius Borg Høiby[15][16][17][18] combined with scandals involving the King's son-in-law, conspiracy theorist, convicted felon and accused sex offender Durek Verrett, have been cited as reasons for a "decimation of the Norwegian royal family's reputation,"[19] leading to debate about democratic constitutional reforms to abolish hereditary positions[20] and a doubling of membership in the Norwegian republican association.
[21][22] In 2012 Hallgeir H. Langeland, Snorre Serigstad Valen, Eirin Sund, Truls Wickholm, Marianne Marthinsen and Jette F. Christensen proposed a constitutional change.
In the constitutional bill, they stated that no positions of power should be inherited, and therefore they believed that the monarchy was not suitable in a democratic country like Norway.
[25] In 2019 the members of Parliament voted again, and Støre remarked that the royal family still has support from the Labour Party.
[26] The Liberal Party believe that no position of power should be inherited and that a potential change in form of government from monarchy to republic will have to be decided by the people through a referendum.
