# Varaldsøy (municipality)

Varaldsøy is a former municipality in the old Hordaland county, Norway. The municipality existed from 1902 until its dissolution in 1965. The 83-square-kilometre (32 sq mi) municipality encompassed the whole island of Varaldsøy and a 2-to-3-kilometre (1.2 to 1.9 mi) wide strip of the mainland west of the island. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village area of Varaldsøy on the southern part of the island, where Varaldsøy Church is located.

## History

On 1 January 1902, the southern district of the municipality of Strandebarm was separated to become the new municipality of Varaldsøy. Initially, Varaldsøy had a population of 848. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1965, the municipality of Varaldsøy was dissolved and its lands were split between two neighboring municipalities. The Mundheim area northwest of the island on the mainland (population: 300) was incorporated into Kvam Municipality, and the island of Varaldsøy and the rest of the mainland area southwest of the island (population: 511) became a part of Kvinnherad Municipality.

### Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the island of Varaldsøy (Old Norse: Varaldsey). The first element comes from the old male name Varaldr. The last element is ey which means "island". Historically, the name of the municipality was spelled Varaldsø. On 3 November 1917, a royal resolution changed the spelling of the name of the municipality to Varaldsøy. The letter y was added to the end of the word to "Norwegianize" the name (ø is the Danish word for "island" and øy is the Norwegian word).

## Government

During its existence, this municipality was governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor was indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council.

### Mayors

The mayors (Norwegian: ordfører) of Varaldsøy:
* 1902-1919: Nils Dybsland
* 1920-1922: Nils Kårstad
* 1923-1925: Torbjørn Galtung
* 1926-1928: Erik Skjelnæs
* 1929-1931: Nils Dybsland
* 1932-1940: Kristoffer Mundheim
* 1941-1942: Lars Nedrevåge
* 1942-1945: Sverre Mundheim
* 1945-1945: Kristoffer Mundheim
* 1946-1961: Lars Gerhard Sandvik
* 1961-1963: Arnt Johan Pettersen
* 1964-1965: Haktor Djuvsland

### Municipal council

The municipal council (Heradsstyre) of Varaldsøy was made up of representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
Varaldsøy heradsstyre 1964 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 13 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 13 |
Varaldsøy heradsstyre 1960–1963 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 13 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 13 |
Varaldsøy heradsstyre 1956–1959 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 13 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 13 |
Varaldsøy heradsstyre 1952–1955 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 12 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 12 |
Varaldsøy heradsstyre 1948–1951 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 12 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 12 |
Varaldsøy heradsstyre 1945–1947 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 12 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 12 |
Varaldsøy heradsstyre 1938–1941* :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 12 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 12 |
| Note: Due to the German occupation of Norway during World War II, no elections were held for new municipal councils until after the war ended in 1945. |||