Liberal Party (Norway) - Name of The Party

Name of The Party

While the name of the party means Left in Norwegian, the party refers to itself as a centrist party. Since the Centre Party is a component of the governing centre-left Red-Green Coalition, and Venstre is part of the "non-socialist" opposition, a situation has been produced where the centre party is more on the left than Left itself. When the name Left was chosen in 1884, the word did not refer to socialism in the way "Left wing" does today. It meant liberal or radical in comparison to the conservatives on the right, and referred to the position of the seats in Parliament. The use of the word for "left" in the names of the Danish political parties Venstre and Radikale Venstre is also meant to refer to Liberalism and not Socialism.

The term originates from the French Revolution, when liberal deputies from the Third Estate generally sat to the left of the president's chair, a habit which began in the Estates General of 1789. The nobility, members of the Second Estate, generally sat to the right.