Editing Progress Party (Norway) (section)

=== 1980s: establishing the party ===
[[File:CI Hagen2326alt 2E jpg DF0000062793.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Carl I. Hagen]], party leader for nearly three decades from 1978 to 2006]]
While the Progress Party dropped out of parliament altogether in 1977, it returned in the following [[1981 Norwegian parliamentary election|1981 parliamentary election]] with four representatives. In this election, the [[Right-wing politics|political right]] in general had a great upturn, which garnered the Progress Party increased support.<ref name="dbmg">{{Cite news|url=http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2001/03/05/245386.html|work=[[Dagbladet Magasinet]]|title=Fremskritt fra dag en|trans-title=Progress from day one|date=5 March 2001|access-date=27 August 2010|language=no}}</ref> The ideology of the party was sharpened in the 1980s, and the party officially declared that it was a [[Libertarianism|libertarian]] party at its national convention in [[Sandefjord]] in 1983.{{Sfn|Simonsen|2007|p=40}}<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://onlinesos.aftenposten.no/tjenester/archive/show.htm?catalog=44073&page=5&query=%22carl+i.+hagen%22+ideologi&date=2.5.1983|title=Ønsker samarbeide med Høyre på sikt: Liberalismen Fr.p.s nye ideologi|work=[[Aftenposten]]|first=Per|last=Danielsen|access-date=28 November 2010|language=no|date=2 May 1983|page=5|quote=Fremskrittspartiet ønsker et samarbeide med Høyre. Liberalismen er blitt partiets ideologi. Dette er to sentrale hovedkonklusjoner fra partiets landsmøte i Sandefjord, som blr {{sic}} avsluttet søndag.}}</ref> Until then, the party had not had a clearly defined ideology.{{citation needed|date=December 2019}} In the campaign for the [[1985 Norwegian parliamentary election|1985 parliamentary election]], the party attacked many aspects of the Norwegian welfare state, and campaigned for privatization of medical care, education and government-owned enterprises as well as steep cuts in [[income tax]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.google.no/newspapers?id=_R8yAAAAIBAJ&sjid=1KUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3319%2C4288335|work=[[The Montreal Gazette]]|title=Ruling coalition takes narrow win over left in Norwegian election|page=58|date=10 September 1985|access-date=27 August 2010}}</ref> In the election, the party lost two of its four members of parliament, but was left with some power as they became the [[Kingmaker scenario|kingmaker]]. In May 1986, the party used this position to effectively throw out the governing [[Willoch's Second Cabinet|Conservative-led government]] after it had proposed to increase gas taxes. A [[Brundtland's Second Cabinet|minority Labour government]] was established as a result.<ref name="tv2frp"/>

The first real breakthrough for the party in Norwegian politics came in the [[1987 Norwegian local elections|1987 local elections]], when the party nearly doubled its support from 6.3% to 12.3% (county results). This was largely as immigration was for the first time seriously taken up as an issue by the party (although Hagen had already in the late 1970s called for a strongly restrictive immigration policy),<ref name="afp040506"/> successfully putting the issue on the national agenda.{{Sfn|Skjørestad|2008|p=40}} Its campaign had mainly been focused on the issue of [[asylum seeker]]s,{{Sfn|Hagelund|2005|p=152}} but was additionally helped by the infamous "[[Mustafa-letter]]", a letter read out by Hagen during the electoral campaign that portrayed the [[Counter-jihad|future Islamisation of Norway]].<ref name="tv2frp"/>{{Sfn|Hagelund|2005|p=155}} In April 1988 the party was for the first time the second largest party in Norway in an opinion poll with 23.5%.<ref name="dbmg"/> In September 1988, the party further proposed in parliament for a referendum on the immigration policy, which was regarded by political scientists as the start of the party's 1989 election campaign.<ref name="aft279">{{Cite news|title=Hagen: Folket må selv bestemme innvandring|trans-title=Hagen: The people must make the decisions on immigration themselves|url=http://onlinesos.aftenposten.no/tjenester/archive/show.htm?catalog=75229&page=10&query=folkeavstemning+innvandring&date=27.9.1988|work=[[Aftenposten]]|date=27 September 1988|access-date=13 October 2010|language=no|first=Geir|last=Salvesen}}</ref> In 1989, the party made its breakthrough in national politics. In the [[1989 Norwegian parliamentary election|1989 parliamentary election]], the party obtained 13%, up from 3.7% in 1985, and became the third largest party in Norway. It started to gain power in some local administrations. The first mayors from the party were<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://onlinesos.aftenposten.no/tjenester/archive/show.htm?catalog=82717&page=9&query=%22bj%C3%B8rn+br%C3%A5then%22+ordf%C3%B8rer&date=11.9.2007|page=9|title=Får trolig flere ordførere|trans-title=Will probably have several mayors|work=[[Aftenposten]]|date=11 September 2007|language=no|access-date=18 October 2010}}</ref> [[Håkon Rege]] in [[Sola, Norway|Sola]] (1988–1989),<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.aftenbladet.no/innenriks/politikk/article333487.ece|work=[[Stavanger Aftenblad]]|publisher=www.aftenbladet.no|title=Rege tar gjenvalg|trans-title=Rege stands for re-election|date=16 August 2006|access-date=27 August 2010|language=no|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002232623/http://www.aftenbladet.no/innenriks/politikk/article333487.ece|archive-date=2 October 2011}}</ref> Bjørn Bråthen in [[Råde]] (1990–1991)<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://onlinesos.aftenposten.no/tjenester/archive/show.htm?catalog=73210&page=48&query=%22bj%C3%B8rn+br%C3%A5then%22+ordf%C3%B8rer&date=11.2.2010|page=16|title=Jubilanter: 70 år|trans-title=Anniversaries: 70 years|work=[[Aftenposten]]|date=11 September 2007|language=no|access-date=18 October 2010}}</ref> and [[Peter N. Myhre]] in Oslo (1990–1991).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ordforeren.oslo.kommune.no/tidligere_ordforere/|title=Tidligere ordførere|trans-title=Previous mayors|work=[[Oslo|Oslo municipality]]|publisher=www.ordforeren.oslo.kommune.no|access-date=11 November 2009|language=no}}</ref>