The Coalition Party () was a Norwegian political coalition drawn from the Conservative Party, the Moderate Liberal Party and independent Liberals. Its main issues were opposition to the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

political union A political union is a type of political entity which is composed of, or created from, smaller politics or the process which achieves this. These smaller polities are usually called federated states and federal territories in a federal gove ...

radicalism, as well as to the rising growth of

social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

. Originally formed to pursue a more careful negotiating line towards

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, the party turned around and took part in Michelsen's Cabinet, which carried through the

dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden The dissolution of the union (; ; Høgnorsk, Landsmål: ''unionsuppløysingi''; ) between the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden under the House of Bernadotte, was set in motion by a resolution of the Storting on 7 June 1905. Following some months of ...

in 1905. The coalition's leading members included

Christian Michelsen Peter Christian Hersleb Kjerschow Michelsen (15 March 1857– 29 June 1925), better known as Christian Michelsen, was a Norwegian shipping magnate and statesman. He was the first prime minister of independent Norway from 1905 to 1907. Michelse ...

himself, Wollert Konow (SB) and

Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson Bjørnstjerne Martinius Bjørnson ( , ; 8 December 1832 – 26 April 1910) was a Norwegian writer who received the 1903 Nobel Prize in Literature "as a tribute to his noble, magnificent and versatile poetry, which has always been distinguished ...

History

The Coalition Party went to the polls in the 1903 election based on its promises to negotiate with

concerning Norwegian rights to

consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth countries, a ...

s, in opposition to the radical actionist line of the Liberal Party. In addition to a revolutionary state, the party feared the formation of a

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

, as well as potential foreign intervention. Optimism about the success of these negotiations was high, and the Coalition Party and the Conservatives won 63 seats in the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( ; ) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional represe ...

, against the Liberals' 49. On 22 October 1903 Hagerup's Second Cabinet was formed, led by Francis Hagerup from the Coalition Party. In early 1905 the party split with the majority voting in favor of a more actionist line in opposition to Hagerup, causing his government to be replaced by a broad coalition government under Christian Michelsen, in which the Liberal Party also participated. This government carried through the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905. After the independence of Norway, there were attempts to create a union of all non-socialist parties. But after the union issue had been resolved, internal unity disintegrated, and disputes that had been previously suppressed blossomed. The Liberal Party declined to be absorbed into the party. The 1906 parliamentary election became a contest between the Liberals and the Coalition Party. Exact figures for the election result are hard to compile, as a new election system was introduced, with single member constituencies and a

plurality voting system Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which the candidates in an electoral district who poll more than any other (that is, receive a plurality) are elected. Under single-winner plurality voting, and in systems based on single-member ...

, where many representatives were elected as independents and only joined a parliamentary faction after the election. Statistics Norway estimates that candidates affiliated with Samlingspartiet won 32.8% of the vote, and the Liberal Party 49.9%. 75 of the 123 elected MPs joined the Liberal parliamentary group. Several of these, however, had been elected as Coalition Party candidates. Michelsen's cabinet remained in office, as the Liberal parliamentary faction was not cohesive enough to challenge it, until Michelsen resigned due to ill health in October 1907. By this time, the idea of one, united, non-socialist party was abandoned by the Conservatives, as it was clear that the Liberal Party would not be joining it. The coalition was effectively defunct by 1909, although some former Liberals under influence of Michelsen formed the Free-minded Liberal Party in close cooperation with the Conservatives, and the name "Coalition Party" remained in use by some local branches of the Conservative Party until the 1930s.

References

{{reflist, 2 Political parties established in 1903 1903 establishments in Norway Political parties disestablished in 1909 1909 disestablishments in Norway Defunct conservative parties Defunct liberal political parties Liberal conservative parties Conservative parties in Norway Liberal parties in Norway Defunct political parties in Norway