User:Lilduff90/Mayors in Kvinnherad

The Mayor of Kvinnherad is the highest local office in the municipality of Kvinnherad in Hordaland, Norway. Since the election of the first Mayor in 1838, there have been thirty-one mayors in office.

The current mayor is Peder Sjo Slettebø (since 2015), with Hans Inge Myrvold expected to take office in October 2019 as the 32nd Mayor of Kvinnherad.

Election history
After the new Municipal laws of 1837 were approved, all local municipalities of Norway were required to have a local council and executive council led by a mayor, beginning on 1 January 1838. As was common, the parish priest was a leading candidate, and in 1838, Elias Børge Unger was made the first Mayor of Kvinnherad, serving for the first eight years. As parliamentarism had yet to be introduced in Norway, none of the early mayors had a party affiliation, but were considered civil servants until the first parties were formed in 1884-85.

Until 1898, local elections were held every four years, and the municipal and executive councils were on separate ballots, meaning the mayor would be elected directly. However, the system also ahd mid-term elections every second year in-between, where half the members of both councils, including the mayor, would be up for election. This meant that it was possible to be elected mayor for as little as two years, as in the case of Heiberg from 1850-51, if you failed to recieve enough support in the mid-terms.

After 1898, a new law was put into effect, meaning local elections would now be held every three years, with only the municipal council being elected directly. The executive council and mayor would then be chosen from the elected council members. This system was in effect until 1945, when the term was expanded to four years, beginning with the 1947 election.

Until 1991, the transition between mayors happened at New Years, with the previous Mayor stepping down on 31 December and the new Mayor taking over on 1 January. Since then, the Mayor has taken office in the first municipal meeting after the election.

Notable mayors
The longest-serving mayor of Kvinnherad is Ingemar Traavik, who served as mayor from 1 January 1917 until his death on 6 August 1949, interrupted only by the Nazi occupation between 1942 and 1945, for a total of 31 years and 218 days. The second-longest serving was his predecessor, Axel Lea, who served for eighteen years from 1899 until 1916.

Andreas Lavik, mayor from 1886-93, was also an elected legislative council member of the Storting between 1889-91. He is also notable for being the only mayor in Kvinnherad from the short-lived Moderate Venstre.