Vidar Sveinung Kleppe (born 16 September 1963) is a Norwegian politician. He was a member of parliament and deputy leader of the Progress Party until he was suspended and left the party in 2001. He was the leader of the Democrats party from 2002 to 2012, and has since 2003 held office as a member of the Vest-Agder county council and the Kristiansand municipal council.
Early and personal life
Kleppe was born in Bergen, Norway to CEO Erling Kleppe (1941–1989) and his wife Harriet Uthaug (1944–2018), and was raised in Fedje. He received education at a mechanical school from 1980 to 1981, and after this went to sea for a year. When he came back he worked as an industrial labourer in Kristiansand for four years, until 1987 when he was a businessman for two years. he is married and have three children, and is occupied as a seller. For his wedding, Jan Simonsen was his best man.
Political career
Progress Party, 1980s–2001
Kleppe was a prominent politician for the Progress Party during the 1990s and was a member of their national board from 1989 to 1999. He was a member of parliament for two periods, from 1989 to 1993 and from 1997 to 2001. From 1995 to 1999 he was the second deputy leader of the party. He also held the office as a member of the Kristiansand municipal council from 1987 to 1999. During electoral campaigns in 1999, Kleppe, together with his close party colleague Øystein Hedstrøm, notably ran numerous campaigns together, popularly known as the "Hedstrøm & Kleppe Show", where they discussed issues regarding immigration and integration.
In early 2001 turmoil however erupted within the Progress Party, and Kleppe was suspended and soon left the party, in spite of strong opposition to the suspension in many local chapters of the party. Kleppe was seen by party chairman Carl I. Hagen as a "leader" of a rebellious faction of the party, as well as being controversial, because of his positions on immigration as well as other issues where he contradicted the official party policy. He was also accused of not being a "constructive team player." His earlier history was toppled when Kleppe attacked then deputy leader Terje Søviknes in the turmoil around the sex scandal he was involved with at the time, insinuating him of fooling around with young girls and possible sexual assaults.
2001 election
The suspension was restricted to a year only, but Kleppe chose to leave the party and contested the 2001 parliamentary election as a candidate for the Southern Norway List (Sørlandslista). His campaign failed and he received only 2.8% of the vote in Vest-Agder, a largely disappointing result as he was regarded as having a strong support there with a poll in March where 17.5% said they would vote for him.
In early 2001 he had also apparently been nominated as the top candidate for the Liberal People's Party in two counties, but conflict erupted over the party's status. The dispute was resolved in June when they announced that they would launch the "Freedom Party" (Frihetspartiet), but the plans were never realised. Since this failed, they instead contested the election by a loose collection of county lists.
Democrats, 2002–2023
Kleppe went on to found the Democrats in 2002. He was elected as member of the Vest-Agder county council and Kristiansand municipal council in the 2003 local elections, and was re-elected again in 2007. Before the 2005 parliamentary election a poll showed that close to 10% of those voting for the Progress Party in Hordaland in 2003 would consider voting for Kleppe, but the final outcome became significantly lower.
Kleppe has held speeches at several rallies of the Stop Islamisation of Norway (SIAN) organisation. In 2015 he held a speech at a Pegida rally in Kristiansand.
In 2023, Kleppe and all the party's elected representatives in Kristiansand and Southern Norway were expelled from the party after Kleppe criticised the Russian invasion of Ukraine, in opposition to the party's decision to oppose weapons support to Ukraine. He thereafter started the new "Kleppe List" party.