# Dalsfjord, Møre og Romsdal

Dalsfjord is a former municipality in the Sunnmøre region of Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. The former municipality existed from 1924 until its dissolution in 1964. The 165-square-kilometre (64 sq mi) municipality included the area around the Dalsfjorden between Vanylven Municipality in the west and almost all the way to the Kilsfjorden in the east. The area is now a part of Volda Municipality. The administrative centre was the village of Dravlaus. Other villages in the area included Ulvestadbygda (Ulvestad, Lauvstad, and Sætre), Åmelfot, Steinsvik, and Dalsbygda.

## History

Originally, Dalsfjord was a part of Volda Municipality (see formannskapsdistrikt law), the parish of Dalsfjord was established as a separate municipality on 1 July 1924. Initially, Dalsfjord had a population of 960. During the 1960s, there were many municipal mergers across Norway due to the work of the Schei Committee. On 1 January 1964, Dalsfjord (population: 1,151) ceased to exist as a municipality when it was merged back into Volda.

### Name

The municipality is named after the Dalsfjorden since it is the central geographical feature of the municipality. The first element is dal which means "valley" or "dale". The last element is fjord which means "fjord".

## 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.

### Municipal council

The municipal council (Herredsstyre) of Dalsfjord was made up of 17 representatives that were elected to four year terms. The party breakdown of the final municipal council was as follows:
Dalsfjord heradsstyre 1960–1963 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 17 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 17 |
Dalsfjord heradsstyre 1956–1959 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 17 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 17 |
Dalsfjord heradsstyre 1952–1955 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 2 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 14 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Dalsfjord heradsstyre 1948–1951 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 1 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 15 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Dalsfjord heradsstyre 1945–1947 :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | List of workers, fishermen, and small farmholders (Arbeidarar, fiskarar, småbrukarar liste) | 2 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 14 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
Dalsfjord heradsstyre 1938–1941* :
| Party name (in Nynorsk) | Party name (in Nynorsk) | Number of representatives |
| | Labour Party (Arbeidarpartiet) | 3 |
| | Local List(s) (Lokale lister) | 13 |
| Total number of members: | Total number of members: | 16 |
| 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. |||

### Mayors

The mayors of Dalsfjord:
* 1924-1940: Knut Steinsvik
* 1941-1945: S.P. Løvik
* 1946-1951: Knut Rødstøl
* 1951-1958: Jakob K. Velsvik
* 1958-1960: Lars Velsvik
* 1960-1963: S.P. Løvik