Longyearbyen Community Council

Longyearbyen Community Council (Norwegian: Longyearbyen lokalstyre) is the local government for Longyearbyen in Svalbard, Norway. It has many of the same responsibilities of a municipality.[1] It is organized with a 15-member council which since 2011 has been led by Mayor Christin Kristoffersen of the Labour Party.[2] The council's main responsibilities are infrastructure and utilities, including power, land-use and community planning, education from kindergarten to upper secondary level and child welfare. It operates three kindergartens in addition to the 13-grade Longyearbyen School.[3]

The town hall

The Svalbard Council was established on 1 November 1971. It consisted of 17 non-partisan members which were elected or appointed in three different groups—Store Norske Spitsbergen Kulkompani (SNSK) employees, government employees and others, although the ratio changed several times.[4] Svalbard Samfunnsdrift (SSD), a limited company which was responsible for public infrastructure and services, was established by SNSK on 1 January 1989.[5] Responsibilities included healthcare, the fire department, the kindergarten, roads, garbage disposal, power production, the water and sewer system, the cinema, cultural activities and the library.[6] Ownership was taken over by the Ministry of Trade and Industry on 1 January 1993.[5] During the 1990s, the authorities started a process to "normalize" Longyearbyen by abolishing the company town scheme and introducing a full range of services, a varied economy and local democracy.[7] The Svalbard Council changed its regulations from 1993 and allowed parties to run for election.[6] Longyearbyen Community Council was established in 2002, replacing the Svalbard Council and assimilating SSD.[1]

Elections are typically held in early October, some weeks after Norwegian local elections.[8] The 2023 election was won by the Liberal Party, who was counted to have 49.5% of the votes on the election night,[8] but the election was marred by the disenfranchisement of almost all residents without Norwegian citizenship, estimated to affect one-third of the town's population.[9]

References
Bibliography
  • Arlov, Thor B. (1994). A short history of Svalbard. Oslo: Norwegian Polar Institute. ISBN 82-90307-55-1.
  • Holm, Kari (1999). Longyearbyen – Svalbard: historisk veiviser (in Norwegian). ISBN 82-992142-4-6.
Notes
  1. "9 Næringsvirksomhet". St.meld. nr. 22 (2008-2009): Svalbard. Norwegian Ministry of Justice and the Police. 17 April 2009. Retrieved 24 March 2010.
  2. Amundsen, Birger (10 October 2011). "Kvinne valgt av folket". Svalbardposten (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 12 October 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2012.
  3. "Information for foreign citizens living in Longyearbyen" (PDF). Governor of Svalbard. 15 August 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
  4. Holm (1999): 134
  5. Holm (1999): 137
  6. Holm (1999): 136
  7. Arlov (1994): 86
  8. "Venstre vant lokalstyrevalget i Longyearbyen". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). 9 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
  9. "Tine er bekymret for lokaldemokratiet: – Ungdommer som har bodd her hele livet får ikke stemt". NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). 8 October 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2023.
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