Faroese referendum in 1946

In the Faroese referendum on September 14, 1946 , a vote was taken on the future status of the Faroe Islands as part of Denmark or the separation from Denmark. A narrow majority of 5660 against 5499 votes in favor of option 2 (independence); however, because of the 481 invalid votes, there was no absolute majority. The turnout was 67.5%. The Danish government and the majority in Løgting did not recognize the referendum. As a compromise, the autonomy of the Faroe Islands was decided in 1948 .

prehistory

During the British occupation of the Faroe Islands in World War II , the connection between the islands and Copenhagen was broken, and the islands became more or less self-governed under the Faroese bodies. The long-standing Faroese self-employment movement received growing support. During this time, the People's Party ( Fólkaflokkurin ) was able to push through a provisional Faroese government - although still in cooperation with the Danish official - in which the party itself was initially not involved. In the 1943 elections, the party won a relative majority for the first time. The situation in Iceland , which had been under Norwegian rule since 1262 and Danish rule since 1380 , had an impact and became a sovereign kingdom in personal union with Denmark in 1918 , which after a referendum in 1944 proclaimed itself a republic .

After the liberation of Denmark from the German occupation, the Copenhagen government made the proposal of conditional autonomy , with the supporters and opponents of this proposal in almost equal strength in the Faroe Islands, which was shown in the Løgtings election in 1945 .

Referendum

On May 9, 1946, the Løgting decided a referendum, which took place on September 14 of that year.

There were two options on the ballot paper:

1. Do you want the Danish Government's proposal to come into force?
2. Do you want the Faroe Islands to break away from Denmark?

This ballot paper was pushed through against the resistance of the Fólkaflokkurin , who assumed that the option of total detachment was not a majority and was not practicable. She fought for extended autonomy. Now that the options were clear, she appealed to the people to invalidate the ballot paper by writing “No” to answer option 1 . The result of the invalid votes shows the poor success of this boycott call , which of course was viewed by the Fólkaflokkurin supporters as a clear vote against the proposal of the Danish government.

Result of the referendum

region	Government proposal		Detachment		Invalid		Voters	Authorized	participation
North islands	398	28.1%	954	67.3%	65	4.6%	1,417	2,220	63.8%
Eysturoy	1,372	54.4%	1,051	41.6%	101	4.0%	2,524	3,854	65.5%
North Streymoy	544	45.2%	621	51.6%	38	3.2%	1,203	1,679	71.6%
Vágar	434	40.0%	616	56.7%	36	3.3%	1,086	1,485	73.1%
South Streymoy	673	31.7%	1,309	61.7%	138	6.5%	2.120	3,323	63.8%
Sandoy	286	36.5%	465	59.4%	32	4.1%	783	1,053	74.4%
Suðuroy	1,783	71.6%	640	25.7%	68	2.7%	2,491	3,602	69.2%
total	5,490	47.2%	5,656	48.7%	478	4.1%	11,624	17,216	67.5%

effects

The spokesman for Løgting, Thorstein Petersen from Fólkaflokkurin , declared the Faroe Islands independent on September 18, 1946, but could not achieve a majority in Løgting because the parties Sambandsflokkurin and Javnaðarflokkurin did not agree. On September 25, 1946, the Danish prefect informed the Løgting that the Danish king had dissolved the Løgting and wanted new elections.

In the Løgtingswahl on November 8, 1946, the political parties that were in favor of remaining in the Danish kingdom increased their share of the vote and formed a coalition. On this basis, Denmark further refused to recognize the referendum and did not give the Faroe Islands independence, but entered into negotiations. A compromise was subsequently reached and the Folketing granted extensive independence in the Autonomy Act of March 31, 1948 . The status of the Faroe Islands as a Danish office was thus ended. The Faroe Islands received a high level of self-government, supported by a financial grant from Denmark to offset the islands' expenditure on Danish services.

This status was also enshrined in the revised Danish constitution in 1953 . The Faroese nation was thus recognized under international law. Even today there is still a need for interpretation on some aspects of bilateral relations with Denmark.

See also

• History of the Faroe Islands
• Faroe Islands in World War II

literature

• Annfinnur í Skála: Stjórnarskipanarmálið 1946 . Føroya Skúlabókagrunnur, Tórshavn 1992.
• Hans Andrias Sølvará (Ed.): Løgtingið 150 . Hátíðarrit 3. Løgtingið, Tórshavn 2003, ISBN 99918-966-3-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Løgtingsval skift á valdømi og flokkar (1906-2004) on hagstova.fo (Faroese)
2. ↑ Independent Faroe Islands. Die Zeit , October 3, 1946, accessed on September 14, 2021 . 
3. ↑ Føroyar og bankarnir í 100 ár. P. 43 . banknordik.fo. Archived from the original on September 29, 2015. (Faroese)
4. ↑ Løgtingið kom saman áðrenn ætlað, mikudagin, vegna… , Dagblaðið , September 20, 1946, on infomedia.dk (Faroese)
5. ↑ Dagblaðið on November 13, 1946 , infomedia.dk: newspaper report on the outcome of the Løgtingswahl of November 8, 1946.
6. ↑ Lov om Færøernes Hjemmestyre of March 31, 1948, (Danish) or Faroese translation