Viken (county)

In 2017 the Storting voted to merge the counties Akershus, Buskerud and Østfold by force; in addition the Storting voted to include Svelvik municipality from Vestfold, and Jevnaker and Lunner municipalities from Oppland.[3]

Viken county is opposed by the former counties concerned and is highly controversial. On 1 October 2019, the newly elected governing majority parties in the planned county declared their intention of seeking to dissolve Viken and to reestablish the counties of Akershus, Buskerud and Østfold.[4] The current official governing platform of Viken county states that "Viken is an ill-considered construction. The Storting has merged Akershus, Buskerud and Østfold against their will", and declares that the disestablishment of Viken is the main political goal of the current county administration. For the same reason, the county council decided that it will not do anything to merge the counties in practice or establish a common county administration; instead the existing counties will continue to function at their current locations in anticipation of their formal reestablishment.[5]

Viken county takes its name from the historic region of Viken, which during the Viking Age loosely referred to the areas around the Oslofjord, but which became synonymous with Bohuslän (now in Sweden) during the middle ages. In Norway the use of the name Viken was only revived by the Nazi party Nasjonal Samling during the second world war in order to draw parallels to the Viking age; Nasjonal Samling referred to Vestfold and Buskerud as Vest-Viken and Akershus (including most of modern Oslo) and Østfold as Øst-Viken.[6] The new Viken county does not include large parts of the historical Viken, including the region's historical centre Bohuslän, most of Vestfold, or Oslo.[7] Viken County decided that the interim county capital will be Oslo.

Former Director of Oslo Museum Lars Roede described Viken as "an extreme monstrosity that flies in the face of geography and history", "reminiscent of manipulated electoral districts in the United States" and as deeply unpopular in the affected regions. Roede also criticized "the amateurish logos and unhistorical names". Roede termed Viken an example of "Sannermandering," named after the responsible minister Jan Tore Sanner and modelled after the term Gerrymandering.[7]

The county coat of arms adopted in 2020 was based on a citizen's proposal, meaning that it bears no resemblance to older heraldic arms from the area. Historian Lars Roede criticized the coat of arms as an "amateurish logo"; Roede wrote that the coat of arms "does not adhere to the requirements of good heraldry," would have been rejected by heraldic experts in the National Archives, "looks like three flying saucers under [a] cap" and is "a logo, not a heraldic coat of arms".[7]

Viken County has a total of 51 municipalities:[8][9]