Union Party Sambandsflokkurin | |
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Chairperson | Bárður á Steig Nielsen |
Founded | 1906 |
Headquarters | Áarvegur 2 |
Ideology | |
Political position | Centre-right[3] |
National affiliation | Venstre |
Nordic affiliation | Centre Group |
Colours | Light blue, white |
Løgting | 7 / 33 |
Folketing (Faroe seats) | 1 / 2 |
Election symbol | |
B | |
Website | |
www | |
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The Union Party (Faroese: Sambandsflokkurin, also translated Unionist Party) is a conservative-liberal, agrarian political party on the Faroe Islands.[1] The party wants to maintain the Faroe Islands' union with Denmark. On 24 October 2015, Bárður á Steig Nielsen succeeded Kaj Leo Johannesen as party leader.
In the elections in 2008, the party won 21.0% of the popular vote and 7 out of 33 seats. After having been in the opposition for a short interval after the elections, the Union Party formed a new government in September 2008, and Kaj Leo Johannesen became prime minister.
In the Danish parliamentary elections of 2007, the party received 23.5% of the Faroese vote, thereby gaining one of the two Faroese seats in the national legislature of Denmark.
At the general elections in 2011, the party gained 24.7% of the votes and eight seats out of 33. However, on 10 February 2014, the party gained one more seat in the Løgting, after Gerhard Lognberg who was elected to the parliament representing the Social Democratic Party, joined the Union Party.[4] This happened three months after Lognberg had been expelled from the Social Democratic Party due to some disagreements,[5] making the Union Party the joint biggest party of the Faroese parliament, along with the People's Party.[6]