The Progress Party's Youth (, FpU), is the youth wing of the Norwegian political party the Progress Party. It is generally considered to be more libertarian than the Progress Party itself. The organization has active chapters in all counties of Norway as well as in over 50 municipalities. From 2012, Himanshu Gulati was the organisation's chairperson. Gulati is the first leader of a youth wing of a major Norwegian political party with multi-cultural background. After being selected to the post of State Secretary in the Ministry of Justice, Gulati stepped down. In 2014, Atle Simonsen was elected chairperson Atle sat as chairman until 2016, when the annual national meeting of FpU elected Bjørn-Kristian Svendrud as the organisation's chairman. Atle now works as political adviser to Minister of Children and Equality Solveig Horne. History The organization was officially founded by members of the Progress Party (FpU) on the annual party convention on 10–11 February 1978, the same convention where Carl I. Hagen was elected chairman of the party. The organization's first leader was the future mayor of Oslo, Peter N. Myhre, who served until 1984. 1994 Bolkesjø purge As soon as in 1989, rifts appeared within the FpU between a liberal and conservative faction. In the 1989 election several, hardline libertarians such as Pål Atle Skjervengen and Tor Mikkel Wara gained seats in the Storting and this further weakened the conservatives' position. That same year saw controversial proposals put forth by the liberals regarding gay marriage and immigration which sparked heated debates within among the youth members. In 1992, the liberal Lars Grønntun was elected leader after a power struggle with Ingvar Myrvollen. This began a period of large-scale infighting which ultimately led to the board dissolving the organization, only to have the decision reversed by the party. After the expulsion of its entire liberal faction during the 1994 Progress Party national convention at Bolkesjø in Telemark, Ulf Leirstein became the new leader. Recent history Norwegian secondary schools hold school elections. The organization consistently polls better there than its parent party and emerged as the largest party nationwide in 1989, 2003, 2005 and 2009. Recently, they have been out-polled by their social-democratic rivals from AUF. In 2009, FpU set a new membership record of 3,031 members, although this number dipped to 2,892 in 2010. Nevertheless, all political youth-organizations experienced an upsurge in new members in the aftermath of the 2011 Norway