Union Party (Norway)

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Union Party (Norwegian: Samlingspartiet) was a short lived, Norwegian political party based around parts of the Conservative Party and the Moderate Liberal Party. The main issues was opposition against the Liberal Party's union political radicalism, as well as the rising social democracy. Central people in the Union Party included Christian Michelsen, Wollert Konow and Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson. The Union Party went to the polls in the 1903 election based on promises of negotiations with Sweden concerning Norwegian rights to consulates.

The negotiation optimism was great, and the Union Party and the Conservatives won 63 seats in the legislature, against the Liberals 49. On October 22, 1903 the Second cabinet Hagerup was formed, led by Francis Hagerup. After the independence of Norway in 1905, the party was intended to continue as an alternative for a right-winged coalition force in the 1906 election, but the union policies didn't survive the separatist political climate. After the union issue was solved, the internal unity disintegrated, and disputes that had been suppressed, blossomed.