List of famous politicians from Norway, listed alphabetically with photos when available. This list of popular Norwegian politicians includes members of the government who are either active or inactive, some of who might even now be dead. These are some of the most well-known Norwegian politicians of all time, so if you're a native of Norway and want to work for your country then these are the people you should look up to. If you're searching for a particular politician from Norway, then use the "search" box to find who you're looking for.
List ranges from Hege Nerland to Rolf Schjerven and more.
You can click on the names of these renowned politicians of Norway in order to get more information about each one.- Age: 63Erna Solberg (Norwegian: [ˌæːʁnɑ ²suːlbæʁɡ]; born 24 February 1961) is a Norwegian politician serving as Prime Minister of Norway since 2013 and Leader of the Conservative Party since May 2004.Solberg was first elected to be a member of the Storting in 1989 and served as Minister of Local Government and Regional Development in Bondevik's Second Cabinet from 2001 to 2005. During her tenure, she oversaw the tightening of immigration policy and the preparation of a proposed reform of the administrative divisions of Norway. After the 2005 election, she chaired the Conservative Party parliamentary group until 2013. Solberg has emphasized the social and ideological basis of the Conservative policies, although the party also has become visibly more pragmatic.After winning the September 2013 election, she became the 28th Prime Minister of Norway and the second female to hold the position after Gro Harlem Brundtland. Solberg's Cabinet, often referred to informally as the "Blue-Blue Cabinet", is a two-party minority government consisting of the Conservative Party and Progress Party. The cabinet established a formalized co-operation with the Liberal Party and Christian Democratic Party in the Storting. The Government was re-elected in the 2017 election, and was extended to include the Liberal Party in January 2018. This extended minority coalition is informally referred to as the "Blue-Green cabinet." In May 2018, Solberg surpassed Kåre Willoch and became the longest serving Prime Minister of Norway to represent the Conservative party.
Espen Johnsen
Age: 47Espen Johnsen (born 17 October 1976 in Lillehammer) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Oppland in 2005. He had previously served as a deputy representative during the term 2001–2005. On the local level he was a member of Oppland county council from 1999 to 2005. Since 2002 he is the leader of the county party chapter, as well as a member of the Labour Party national board. He grew up in Vestre Slidre, and graduated from Lillehammer University College. In 2011 he was elected to mayor of Lillehammer- Age: 80Eva Joly (French: [eva ʒɔli]; born Gro Eva Farseth; 5 December 1943) is a Norwegian-born French juge d'instruction (magistrate) and politician for Europe Écologie–The Greens. She represented that party as a candidate for the presidency of France in the 2012 elections. She also served as a Member of the European Parliament from 2009 until 2019.
Eva Kristin Hansen
Age: 51Eva Kristin Hansen (born 5 March 1973 in Trondheim) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. From 2000 to 2002, she was the leader of the Workers' Youth League, the youth wing of the Labour Party. She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Sør-Trøndelag in 2005. On the local level she was a member of Trondheim city council from 2003 to 2005. From 1995 to 1999 she was a deputy member of Sør-Trøndelag county council. She has worked for Nei til EU and Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions.Eva M. Nielsen
Age: 74Eva Margaret Nielsen (born 7 March 1950 in Kvænangen) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Finnmark in 2001, and has been re-elected on one occasion. She had previously served as a deputy representative during the term 1989–1993. On the local level she was elected to the executive committee of Alta municipal council from in 1983, and later served as mayor from 1991 to 2001. She chaired the local party chapter from 1989 to 1992. During the same period she was also deputy leader of the county chapter as well as a member of the Labour Party national board.Evald Rygh
Dec. at 70 (1842-1913)Evald Rygh (26 May 1842 – 9 May 1913) was a Norwegian banker and politician for the Conservative Party. He served as Minister of Finance and Customs and mayor of Kristiania. He was born in Verdal, and was the brother of Karl Ditlev and Oluf Rygh. He was educated in law, holding a cand.jur. degree. Both his brothers were noted archaeologists, and Karl Ditlev was a conservative politician too.From 1880 to 1889 Evald Rygh served as burgomaster of Kristiania. On 13 July 1889, when the first cabinet Stang assumed office, Rygh was appointed Minister of Finance and Customs. He lost this post when the first cabinet Stang fell on 5 March 1891. Instead, he was elected to the Norwegian Parliament in 1892 for the constituency of Kristiania, Hønefoss og Kongsvinger. He only served one term, having also served as mayor of Kristiania from 1893 to 1894. Rygh reportedly turned down a request to return as a government minister when the second cabinet Stang was formed in 1893. In 1895 and 1896 he led the committee that negotiated a new Mellomrikslov between Norway and Sweden, as Sweden had annulled the existing laws in 1895. The negotiations were fruitless, as such contributing to the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden in 1905. Outside politics Rygh was the CEO of Christiania Sparebank from 1893. He was also the first chair of the National Theatre. Together with Hans Hagerup Krag he worked to establish an outdoors area around Holmenkollen, Voksenkollen and Frognerseteren accessible to the city populace. Through the Holmen-Voksenkoll Society, founded in 1888, they helped in the building of Holmenkollen Chapel and, together with the Association for the Promotion of Skiing, the establishment of the Holmenkollen ski jump and Korketrekkeren, a luge and bobsleigh course. To commemorate this a bauta of Rygh was erected at Holmenkollen. The road Ryghs vei and the square Evald Ryghs plass, both in Oslo, have been named after him. Rygh was also proclaimed a Commander, First Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 1891. Rygh died in 1913. He was buried at Cemetery of Our Saviour.Even Erlien
Age: 69Even Erlien (born 16 January 1955) is a Norwegian politician for the Centre Party. He served as a deputy representative in the Norwegian Parliament from Sør-Trøndelag during the terms 1993–1997 and 1997–2001. On the local level, Erlien was mayor of Røros municipality until 1999.Fabian Stang
Age: 68Richard Fabian Stang (born 19 August 1955) is a Norwegian lawyer and a Norwegian politician for the Conservative Party. He was Mayor of the city of Oslo from 2007 until 2015.Finn Blakstad
Dec. at 76 (1865-1941)Finn Blakstad (15 January 1865 – 24 January 1941) was a Norwegian farmer and politician for the Conservative Party.Frank Willy Larsen
Age: 58Frank Willy Larsen (born 15 September 1965 in Ringerike) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Buskerud during the term 1997–2001. From 2000 to 2001 he was a regular representative, covering for Thorbjørn Jagland who was appointed to the first cabinet Stoltenberg. Larsen was a member of the executive committee of Ringerike municipality council from 1999 to 2001. He was later hired in administrative positions (as rådmann) in Værøy and Halden.Freddy de Ruiter
Age: 55Freddy de Ruiter (born 4 April 1969 in Arendal) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour and Socialist Left parties. De Ruiter was elected to the Parliament of Norway from Aust-Agder in 2005, 2009 and 2013. He had previously served as a deputy representative during the terms 1993–1997 and 1997–2001. In 2019 he left the Labour Party and entered the Socialist Left Party.On the local level de Ruiter was a member of Arendal city council from 1991 to 1995 and Aust-Agder county council from 1995 to 2007. He chaired the regional Workers' Youth League chapter from 1991 to 1994 and the local Labour Party chapter from 2004 to 2006.Outside politics de Ruiter worked as a county secretary of the Workers' Youth League, then high school teacher at Blakstad and Åmli. He was educated in history, political science and pedagogics at Agder University College, the University of Bergen and the University of Oslo.Frederik Due
Dec. at 77 (1796-1873)Frederik Gottschalck Haxthausen Due (14 April 1796 – 16 October 1873) was a Norwegian military officer and statesman. Born in Trondheim, he entered the military at an early age, and took part in the Swedish-Norwegian War of 1814. After the two countries entered into union, Due was recruited to the Swedish court, where he was appointed Norwegian state secretary in Stockholm in 1823. In 1841 he became Norwegian prime minister, and acted as interpreter for Charles XIV John. After resigning in 1858, he spent the years until 1871 as an ambassador to Vienna and Munich.- Dec. at 81 (1802-1884)This article is about the Prime Minister, for his grandson the Minister of Justice, see Fredrik Stang.Frederik Stang (4 March 1808 – 8 June 1884) was a Norwegian lawyer, public servant, and politician who served as Norway's first prime minister.Stang was born on the Nordre Rostad farm at Stokke in Vestfold, Norway. He was the son of Lauritz Leganger Stang (1775-1836) and Johanne Margrethe Conradi (1780-1820). His father was a procurator and later a magistrate. At age 13, he entered the Bergen Cathedral School. Stang, known as Friederich until the 1830s, entered the study of law at the age of 16 and passed the bar exam in 1828.In 1830, he accepted a position as lecturer of law at the University of Oslo. During this time, he published a seminal text on Norwegian constitutional law. He went over to private practice in 1834, where he distinguished himself as a trial attorney, especially in supreme court cases.In 1846, Stang became the most senior civil servant in the newly formed (and no longer existent) Domestic Ministry. He served in this position until 1856, and his tenure was characterized by tireless efforts to modernize Norway's economic infrastructure. In addition to improving the road network, harbors, canals, and lighthouses, he was in great measure responsible for Norway and Scandinavia's first railroad, from Oslo to Eidsvoll. He also worked hard to elevate the importance and function of agriculture in Norway, initiating the formation of a university-level school of agriculture, commissioned travelling agrarians, and encouraged better breeding among Norwegian farm animals. In 1861, after a brief stint as mayor of Oslo, Stang was appointed to the Norwegian cabinet. His time as a political leader was characterized by considerable discord within the Norwegian parliament and between Norway and the Swedish government. In 1865, Stang founded the Norwegian Red Cross. In 1870, he was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Until 1873, the king of the personal union between Sweden and Norway governed Norway through two cabinets: one in Stockholm and another, led by a viceroy in Kristiania, now Oslo. After the viceroy position had been vacant for some time, the post of prime minister for Norway was instituted in 1873, and Stang was appointed. Although there was also a prime minister in Stockholm, the one in Norway had the most influence over state affairs. In spite of efforts to reconcile opposing political forces, his party was reduced to a minority position during his tenure. In a gesture of spite, the parliament cut his pension in half in 1881; the citizens of Oslo raised money to make up for the shortfall, and he donated this to a foundation to advance the study of law.
Fredrik Kayser
Dec. at 90 (1918-2009)Fredrik Thorbjørn Kayser, (25 May 1918 – 2 February 2009) was a Norwegian resistance member during World War II. He was especially noted for his role in the Norwegian heavy water sabotage, and has been referred to as "Western Norway's Gunnar Sønsteby".Frode Berge
Age: 58Frode Berge (born 5 March 1966) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He worked as a political advisor to the Norwegian Ministry of Defence from 1990 to 1992, and to the Norwegian Ministry of Children and Family Affairs from 1996 to 1997. In the second cabinet of Jens Stoltenberg, which assumed office in 2005, Berge was appointed State Secretary of the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry. He sought to leave in December 2007, and was replaced by Øyvind Slåke. He has served in the position of deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Rogaland during the terms 1993–1997 and 2005–2009.Gard Folkvord
Age: 55Gard Folkvord (born 10 January 1969 in Voss) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Hordaland during the terms 1993–1997, 1997–2001 and 2001–2005. He was a regular representative from 1996 to 1997 and 2000 to 2001, covering for Ranveig Frøiland and Grete Knudsen who were appointed to the cabinet Jagland and first cabinet Stoltenberg respectively. On the local level he was a member of the executive committee of Odda municipality council from 1991 to 2003. In 2007 he returned to local politics to become mayor.Geir Hafredahl
Age: 61Geir Hafredahl (born 23 May 1962) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Telemark during the term 1989–1993. During the period he served 22 days as a representative in the parliament.Geir Knutsen
Age: 64Geir Knutsen (born 30 June 1959) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Finnmark during the term 2005–2009. In total he met during 3 days of parliamentary session.On the local level he is a member of Båtsfjord municipality council, having served as mayor from 2003 to 2007.Geir Mo
Age: 57Geir Almåsvold Mo (born 2 November 1966 in Lærdal) is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party. He served as a deputy representative to the Parliament of Norway from Telemark during the term 1993–1997, but did not meet in parliamentary session. On the local level Mo was a deputy member of Notodden city council from 1991 to 1995. During the same period he was also a member of Telemark county council. In 2003 he was elected to the borough council in Østensjø, Oslo.Mo became secretary-general of the Progress Party in 1994, stepping down in 2009 to become chief of staff for Siv Jensen. He had to reassume the position in late 2010, serving throughout 2011. Following a bout with legionella, in the spring of 2012 he also resigned as chief of staff for Siv Jensen and became managing director of Norges Lastebileier-Forbund.Mo has also been a member of the Broadcasting Council.Geir Pollestad
Age: 45Geir Pollestad (born 13 August 1978) is a Norwegian politician for the Centre Party. Hailing from Høyland in Hå, Pollestad took lower secondary education in Nærbø and upper secondary education in Bryne, finishing in 1997. After one year at Stavanger University College he enrolled in law studies at the University of Bergen, graduating with the cand.jur. degree in 2006. During his last year of studying he was a board member of the Student Welfare Organisation in Bergen. After graduation, he worked one year as a junior solicitor in the law firm Projure Advokatfirma.Pollestad was the political deputy leader of the Centre Youth from 2001 to 2003, and vice president of Nordiska Centerungdomens Förbund from 2003 to 2009. He served as a deputy representative to the Parliament of Norway from Rogaland during the term 2001–2005, then from Hordaland during the term 2005–2009 and again from Rogaland during the term 2009–2013. In 2007, during the reign of Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet, Pollestad was appointed political advisor in the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. In late 2007 he changed to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy. In 2008, he was promoted to State Secretary in the same ministry. He served until October 2009, when he returned to Parliament, where he was a regular representative while Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa served in cabinet (until June 2012). In September 2012 he returned as State Secretary, this time in the Ministry of Transport and Communications. He resigned in October 2013, as he won a regular seat in Parliament in the 2013 general election.Geir Waage
Age: 57Geir Norten Waage (born January 21, 1967) is a Norwegian politician for the Norwegian Labour Party. Since 2007 he is the mayor of Rana. Waage was one of the four mayors that fronted his municipality and seven others in the Terra Securities scandal.Geir-Ketil Hansen
Age: 68Geir-Ketil Hansen (born 13 March 1956 in Narvik) is a Norwegian politician for the Socialist Left Party. He was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Nordland in 2001, but was not re-elected in 2005. He served in the position of deputy representative during the terms 1989–1993 and 2005–2009. On the local level Hansen was a member of the executive committee of Narvik municipal council from 1979 to 1987. From 1999 to 2001 and 2005 to 2011 he was a member of Nordland county cabinet. Since 2006 he works at the Office of the Auditor General of Norway.Georg Prahl Harbitz
Dec. at 87 (1802-1889)Georg Prahl Harbitz (26 June 1802 – 22 November 1889) was a Norwegian priest and politician. He was a Member of Parliament for multiple terms and served as President of the Storting.Gerd Janne Kristoffersen
Age: 71Gerd Janne Kristoffersen (born 18 November 1952 in Verdal) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Nord-Trøndelag in 2005. She had previously served as a deputy representative during the term 2001–2005. Kristoffersen was a member of the executive committee of Verdal municipal council from 1991 to 1995, later serving as mayor from 1999 to 2005. From 1995 to 1999 she was a member of Nord-Trøndelag county council. Before entering politics she worked at Levanger Hospital.Gjermund Hagesæter
Age: 63Gjermund Hagesæter (born 12 December 1960 in Lindås) is a Norwegian politician representing the Progress Party. He is currently a representative of Hordaland in the Storting and was first elected in 2001. In 2011 he applied for the position as County Governor of Sogn og Fjordane, but was not appointed.Gorm Kjernli
Age: 42Gorm Kjernli (born 31 December 1981) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. He served in the position of deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Akershus during the term 2005–2009. Halfway through this term he was promoted to a regular representative as Anniken Huitfeldt was appointed to the second cabinet Stoltenberg. Kjernli was a member of Ski municipality council from 2003. He hails from Kråkstad and is a political science student at the University of Oslo.- Age: 68Grete Faremo (born 16 June 1955) is a former Norwegian politician, lawyer and business leader. Since August 2014, she has held the post of Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). During her political career, she held high-level positions in the Norwegian Government including Minister of Justice (twice), Minister of Petroleum and Energy, Minister of International Development and Minister of Defence.
Grethe Fossli
Age: 69Grethe Fossli (born 21 December 1954 in Bærum) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party. She was elected to the Norwegian Parliament from Akershus in 1993, and was re-elected on two occasions.- Age: 85Gro Harlem Brundtland (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈɡruː ˈhɑːɭɛm ˈbrʉntlɑnː]; born Gro Harlem, 20 April 1939) is a Norwegian politician, who served three terms as Prime Minister of Norway (1981, 1986–89, and 1990–96) and as Director-General of the World Health Organization from 1998 to 2003. She is also known for having chaired the Brundtland Commission which presented the Brundtland Report on sustainable development. Educated as a physician, Brundtland joined the Labour Party and entered the government in 1974 as Minister of the Environment. She became the first female Prime Minister of Norway on 4 February 1981, but left office on 14 October 1981; she returned as Prime Minister on 9 May 1986 and served until 16 October 1989. She finally returned for her third term on 3 November 1990. From 1981 to 1992 she was leader of the Labour Party. After her surprise resignation as Prime Minister in 1996, she became an international leader in sustainable development and public health, and served as Director-General of the World Health Organization and as UN Special Envoy on Climate Change from 2007 to 2010. She is also deputy chair of The Elders and a former Vice-President of the Socialist International. Brundtland belonged to the moderate wing of her party and supported Norwegian membership in the European Union during the 1994 referendum. As Prime Minister Brundtland became widely known as the "mother of the nation." Brundtland received the 1994 Charlemagne Prize, and has received many other awards and recognitions.
Gro Skartveit
Age: 58Gro Skartveit (born 24 August 1965) is a Norwegian politician for the Liberal Party. She was originally a member of the Christian Democratic Party, but left in 2001 after she came out as a lesbian.She served as a deputy representative to the Norwegian Parliament from Rogaland during the term 2005–2009. On the local level she has been a member of Stavanger city council, and is a member of Rogaland county council. She is also a member of the board of the Western Norway Regional Health Authority.She hails from Finnøy.
