Prime Minister of Norway

This is a descriptive article. For a list, see List of heads of government of Norway.

Prime Minister of Norway
Coat of Arms of Norway
Incumbent Jens Stoltenberg since 17 October 2005
Style	His Excellency (informal)
Residence	Inkognitogata 18/Prime minister's residence
Appointer	Monarch of Norway
Term length	General Elections are held every four years. The Prime Minister is by convention the leader of the victorious party. No term limits are imposed on the office.
Inaugural holder	Frederik Stang (generally regarded as the first incumbent)
Formation	1873
Website	Government Official Homepage

Norway

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Norway

Constitution Monarchy King Harald V Crown Prince Haakon Government Cabinet of Norway Prime Minister (List) Jens Stoltenberg Government Red-Green Coalition Parliament Storting Speaker Dag Terje Andersen Political parties Politicians (category) Elections 2009 parliamentary 2007 local 2005 parliamentary 2003 local 2001 parliamentary 1999 local Local Gov't Counties (Fylker) Municipalities (Kommuner) Sámi Parliament Foreign policy Foreign relations European Union relations

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The Prime Minister of Norway (statsminister) is the political leader of Norway and the Head of His Majesty's Government. The Prime Minister and Cabinet (consisting of all the most senior government department heads) are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Stortinget (Parliament), to their political party, and ultimately the electorate.

Norway has a constitution, which was adopted on 17 May 1814. The position of Prime Minister is the result of legislation. Modern Prime Ministers have few statutory powers but, provided they can command the support of their parliamentary party, they can control both the legislature and the executive (the Cabinet) and hence wield considerable de facto powers. As of 2012, the Prime Minister of Norway is Jens Stoltenberg, of the Norwegian Labour Party.

Longest-sitting prime ministers

Nr.	Prime Minister	Party	Days	Years, months, days
1.	Einar Gerhardsen	Labour Party	6226	17 years and 17 days
2.	Johan Nygaardsvold	Labour Party	3750	10 years, 3 months and 5 days
3.	Gro Harlem Brundtland	Labour Party	3691	10 years, 1 month and 9 days
4.	Gunnar Knudsen	Liberal Party	3383	9 years, 3 months and 4 days
5.	Jens Stoltenberg (incumbent)	Labour Party	2881
6.	Johan Ludwig Mowinckel	Liberal Party	2517	6 years, 10 months and 21 days
7.	Kjell Magne Bondevik	Christian Democratic Party	2341	6 years, 4 months and 29 days
8.	Johannes Steen	Liberal Party	2311	6 years, 3 months and 30 days
9.	Per Borten	Centre Party	1982	5 years, 5 months and 5 days
10.	Odvar Nordli	Labour Party	1847	5 years and 20 days

Former Prime Ministers

As of 2011 five former Prime Ministers are alive:

• Odvar Nordli (1927), served 1976–1981.
• Kåre Willoch (1928), served 1981–1986
• Gro Harlem Brundtland (1939), served 1981, 1986–1989 and 1990–1995.
• Kjell Magne Bondevik (1947), served 1997–2000 and 2001–2005
• Thorbjørn Jagland (1950), served 1996–1997