Foundation , who joined the Democrats while he was a member of parliament The party was originally founded simply as the
Democrats ( , DEM), and it bore this name from 2002 to 2010, and again from 2018 to 2023. From 2010 to 2018, it was known as the
Democrats in Norway ( , DiN). The Democrats were founded on 24 August 2002 at
Hotel Linne in
Oslo, primarily by former
Progress Party members, but also former members of the
Labour Party,
Conservative Party,
Liberal Party and
Socialist Left Party. In November of the same year, the party successfully gathered 5,200 signatures (5,000 required), and was legally registered as a party. The new party's leader,
Vidar Kleppe, had a vision that the party should have a role as an
ombudsman at grass roots level, similar to the role of
Anders Lange, the first leader of the Progress Party. Since Member of Parliament
Jan Simonsen (who was expelled from the Progress Party in 2001) joined the party upon its creation, the party was until 2005 also effectively represented in the
Norwegian Parliament (technically, he had to sit as an
independent). One of the components of the new party was the minor Social Democrats, Later, the Democrats went on to draw leading figures and members from parties such as the
Fatherland Party and the
Norwegian People's Party.
Early years (2002–2012) By August 2003, the headquarters of the Democrats in Kristiansand had reportedly been vandalised eight times. In its first elections, the
2003 local elections, the Democrats ran in 46 municipalities and boroughs, and won 0.3% of the nationwide vote in the county elections. It won two representatives in the
municipal council of
Kristiansand Municipality, and one in the Vest-Agder county council. In 2005, the Democrats became represented in the
municipal council for
Bergen Municipality owing to the defection of a Progress Party councillor. The party stepped up its activity with the aim of gaining a foothold in the Norwegian Parliament at the
2005 parliamentary election. Before the election, party leader Vidar Kleppe tried to bolster support for the party by calling for the closure of all
Mosques in Norway if they did not clearly distance themselves from
terrorism. Candidates running for the party also had to withstand threats and attacks during the electoral campaign. This included
Nordland county leader Amund Garfors receiving death threats, and party leader Vidar Kleppe being physically assaulted both by a former
Workers' Communist Party deputy leader, and by members of a demonstration by left-wing organisations
SOS Rasisme, the
Blitz-movement and
Socialist Youth. Despite running a high-profile campaign, the Democrats failed to make any breakthrough in the election. The Democrats increased their number of candidates for the
2007 local elections, and ran in 85 municipalities and boroughs, as well as in all 19 counties. For the
2009 parliamentary election the Democrats for the first time ran in all the counties in Norway. The Democrats complained about the
Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation to the
OSCE, as the party along with other extraparliamentary parties that ran in all 19 counties had been denied television coverage (except the
Red Party). Only a few weeks before the 2009 election, the headquarters of the Democrats were broken into, and a computer containing material planned for use in the election campaign was stolen. In the election, the party remained at 0.1% of the vote. The Democrats had to renew its public registration owing to the poor 2009 election result, and chose to re-register itself as the "Democrats in Norway". The party only ran in 31 municipalities for the
2011 local elections. It nevertheless again won eight municipal councillors, this time in five councils (two councillors in three councils), and held its representation in the Vest-Agder county council. Besides its two representatives in Kristiansand (in Vest-Agder), all of the party's municipal councillors were elected in
Hordaland. After the election, the party became part of local cooperations that would govern
Kristiansand Municipality and
Stord Municipality.
Present era (2012–present) Vidar Kleppe stepped down as leader in 2012 and was succeeded by Kjell Arne Sellæg. The change in leadership was followed by internal strife and resignations. Eleven weeks after his appointment as leader, Sellæg left the Democrats to form a new party, the Moderates. He was succeeded by Elisabeth Rue Strencbo. In 2013 the party elected Fredrik U. Litleskare as new leader of the party. Litleskare withdrew from the position in 2014 citing internal non-political conflicts, and was succeeded by Ellen Simonsen as acting leader. In 2015 Terje Svendsen was elected new leader. In 2016, Kim Steinar Kjærner-Strømberg was elected new leader, until he was exposed and expelled for having given a fraudulent background. He was succeeded by Makvan Kasheikal, an immigrant from
Iran. In the
2019 local elections, the party gained popularity and became the third political force in the city council of Kristiansand with 13.4% of the votes. The new party leader as of 2021, Geir Ugland Jacobsen who is a contributor to the Russian propaganda channel
RT, then transformed the party into a pro-Russian voice in the political debate. The party's website refers to Ukraine as the "Kyiv regime" and accuses the West of warmongering in Ukraine. The party underwent another name change in 2023, adopting its current name and logo. The same year, party founder Vidar Kleppe and all the party's elected representatives in Kristiansand and Southern Norway were expelled from the party after Kleppe criticised the
Russian invasion of Ukraine, in opposition to the party's decision to oppose weapons support to Ukraine. Kleppe stated that he cannot accept that the party should be associated with
Putinism. In the
2023 local elections the party received only 0.3% of the votes in Kristiansand, its previous stronghold. ==Political profile==