Government

The Faroe Islands is a self governing territory since 1948 and is politically associated with the kingdom of Denmark. The current Prime Minister is Kaj Leo Johannesen of the Union Party who took office in September of 2008 and is 50 years of age. The Faroes have a multi-party system with numerous parties. The parties must work with one another to form a coalition government as no one party often has a chance of gaining power alone.

 

Like the United States, the Faroe Islands has a left-right party spectrum but also has parties that either want to maintain their place within the Danish realm (unionists) and those that would seek Faroese independence (separatists). Other parties include: People’s, Centre, Self-Government, Advancement for the Islands, Business, Faroese Communist, Christian People’s, Faroese Socialists. The four top parties receiving votes in the October 2011 election were Union (7545), People’s (6882), Republic (5584), Social Democratic (5417). Total votes cast were 30,532 for an 86.6% voter turnout.

 

The three governmental bodies consist of the Executive which is exercised by the government. The Legislative which is vested by both the government and the Logting, a law assembly. The Judiciary which is separate of the Executive and Legislative and the responsibility of Denmark. In October of 2007 the Faroes became one electoral district.