The Union Party is a conservative-liberal, agrarian political party on the Faroe Islands. 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.
Republic, formerly known as the Republican Party is a left-wing political party on the Faroe Islands committed to Faroese independence.
The Social Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party on the Faroe Islands, led by Aksel V. Johannesen.
The Faroese People's Party – Radical Self-Government is a pro-Faroese independence conservative and conservative-liberal political party on the Faroe Islands led by Beinir Johannesen. One of the four major parties, it has had eight seats in the Løgting since the 2019 election, making it the joint-largest party, but it has neither of the Faroes' seats in the Folketing.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in the Faroe Islands are relatively similar to that of Denmark. The progress of LGBT rights has been slower, however. While same-sex sexual activity has been legal in the Faroe Islands since the 1930s, same-sex couples never had a right to a registered partnership. In April 2016, the Løgting passed legislation legalizing civil same-sex marriage on the Faroes, recognizing same-sex marriages established in Denmark and abroad and allowing same-sex adoption. This was ratified by the Folketing in April 2017. The law went into effect on 1 July 2017.
Same-sex marriage has been legal in the Faroe Islands since 1 July 2017. Legislation allowing same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples was approved by the Løgting on 29 April 2016. The Danish Parliament approved the necessary legislative adaptations on 25 April 2017, and the law received royal assent on 3 May and went into effect on 1 July 2017.
Kaj Leo Holm Johannesen is a Faroese politician. He was the prime minister of the Faroe Islands, representing the Faroese Unionist Party (Sambandsflokkurin). He took office, succeeding Jóannes Eidesgaard on 26 September 2008 and left office on 15 September 2015, after his party and coalition with Fólkaflokkurin and Miðflokkurin lost the general election on 1 September 2015. Johannesen is also a former international football player; he was goalkeeper for the Faroe Islands national football team.
Progress is a liberal, pro-Faroese independence political party on the Faroe Islands.
The Second Cabinet of Kaj Leo Johannesen was the government of the Faroe Islands from 14 November 2011 until 15 September 2015 with Kaj Leo Johannesen from Union Party (Sambandsflokkurin) as Prime Minister, making a coalition between Union Party (Sambandsflokkurin), People's Party (Fólkaflokkurin), Self-Government Party (Sjálvstýrisflokkurin) and Centre Party (Miðflokkurin). It is a majority government and the first completely right winged government on the islands since 1985. In September 2013 the Self Governing Party left the coalition and the ministry was closed, after their minister Kári P. Højgaard had been sacked after much discussion about a subsea tunnel between the two largest islands: Streymoy and Eysturoy, Eysturoyartunnilin, which Mr. Højgaard planned to let a private Danish company called Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners make. The plans about making the tunnel were aborted, but in February 2014 all political parties of the Løgting including the independent excluded former member of the Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin), Gerhard Lognberg, agreed on making two subseatunnels: Eysturoyartunnilin and Sandoyartunnilin, both are planned to open in 2021 if everything works out as the politicians have planned, and they will be made by the Faroese government.
The first cabinet of Kaj Leo Johannesen was the government of the Faroe Islands in the period 26 September 2008 until 14 November 2011. Kaj Leo Johannesen from the Union Party (Sambandsflokkurin) was prime minister, the other parties of the cabinet were the People's Party (Fólkaflokkurin) and the Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin). On 6 April 2011 however the prime minister ended the coalition with the People's Party, who left the government after disagreements about the financial politics, and the two remaining parties formed the first minority government in the Faroese history.
Aksel Vilhelmsson Johannesen is a Faroese lawyer and politician for the Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin) and the current prime minister of the Faroe Islands and also served as prime minister from 2015 to 2019. He is a former footballer.
General elections were held in the Faroe Islands on 1 September 2015. Elections for the Danish Folketing were held beforehand on 18 June.
The Eysturoyartunnilin is a large undersea road tunnel under the Tangafjørður sound in the Faroe Islands, connecting the island of Streymoy to the island of Eysturoy. It also crosses the southern part of Skálafjørður, and connects the towns of Runavík on the eastern side and Strendur on the western side of the fjord, and includes the world's first undersea roundabout in the middle of the network.
Rigmor Dam is a Faroese politician and teacher, she has also been working as a journalist for the Faroese paper Sosialurin before she was elected to the Faroese parliament, the Løgting. She is the current Minister of Education, Research and Culture of the Faroe Islands.
The Cabinet of Aksel V. Johannesen was the government of the Faroe Islands from 15 September 2015 until 16 September 2019, with Aksel V. Johannesen from Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin) as Prime Minister, making a coalition between Social Democratic Party, Republic and Progress. The cabinet consists of four men and four women; this is the first time ever, there has been sex equality in the Faroese government.
Sonja J. Jógvansdóttir is a Faroese journalist, politician, and establisher and coordinator of Samtak, the Faroese trade union center. Until 2015, she was a member of Social Democratic Party (Javnaðarflokkurin). She is a spokesperson for the rights of homosexual people and their rights in the Faroe Islands and was one of the establishers of LGBT Faroe Islands in 2011.
General elections were held in the Faroe Islands on 31 August 2019. The elections resulted in the defeat of Aksel V. Johannesen's coalition government consisting of the Social Democrats, Republic, and Progress. Following the elections, a new coalition government was formed by Union Party leader Bárður á Steig Nielsen, consisting of the Union Party, the People's Party and the Centre Party, which won 17 of the 33 seats.
The Cabinet of Bárður á Steig Nielsen was the government of the Faroe Islands between 16 September 2019 and 9 November 2022, with Bárður á Steig Nielsen from Union Party as Prime Minister, making a coalition between People's Party and Centre Party.
The COVID-19 pandemic was confirmed to have reached the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory of Denmark, in March 2020. The confirmed infection rate was 1 case per 280 inhabitants, one of the highest rates in the world, but the archipelago also tested at a very high frequency, with the number of tests equaling c. 34 per cent of the population. As of 28 February 2022, there have been 34648 confirmed cases. Among these, 31 persons have died with COVID-19.
Early general elections were held in the Faroe Islands on 8 December 2022. The opposition Social Democratic Party led by former Prime Minister Aksel V. Johannesen emerged as the largest party, receiving the largest vote share of any party since 1990, while Self-Government lost its Løgting representation for the first time since 1945.
