At 8.30pm on Monday evening, just half an hour before the first forecasts came in, the local team of the Industrial and Business Party in Sveio was formally founded with a signature. It happened at a joint election vigil for the party in the industrial municipality of Stord, where representatives of INP in both Sveio, Bømlo, Stord and Fitjar in Vestland gathered. In all these municipalities, the new party gets representatives into the municipal council. – We had a joint founding meeting and vigil, says Arne Lokna in Sveio INP. In large parts of Norway, and along the entire Westland coast, INP made a fallow whale. Far better than they had expected themselves. – Now I’m sitting here with my beard in the mailbox. We had no thoughts or belief that we would get people into the municipal council, says Cato Sivertsen in Sveio INP. Started five months ago A protest against the established parties. This has been part of the explanation for the fact that the Industrial and Business Party is represented in 115 different municipal councils across the country. He had not thought that the father of three, teacher and offshore worker Sivertsen would end up in politics. Because when the votes were counted in Sveio earlier this week, both Sivertsen and party colleague Arne Lokna had been given seats in the municipal council. – It must be a new world record. In three hours we founded a local team, got 7.3 per cent of the votes and ended up in the municipal council with two representatives, he says. The local team leader does not think he has received the votes personally. – People didn’t vote for the party because of me, but for the party nationally and the full list that was in Sveio. And then they got us, poor things, he says. INP Sveio gathered on vigil. They were founded the same evening. Photo: Eli Bjelland / news Five months ago, Sivertsen was asked if they should start a local team of the party in the municipality in the very south of Vestland. With the help of Facebook and Messenger, a recruitment campaign was started to fill up the lists. The list was delivered on 28 March and approved by Sveio municipality on 15 May. Even if the local team was not formally established, two local INP members could sign the list, as long as it was not unclear that they represented the party. According to the Directorate of Elections, there are no formal requirements for what constitutes a local branch for a party in the Party Register, such as an organization number in the Brønnøysund registers, for example. These two never thought they would be elected to the municipal council when they submitted the list proposal for Sveio INP. Photo: Olav Røli / news – People want change Sivertsen and Lokna have one thing in common. Zero political experience. Nevertheless, they interpret the election results as support that something must happen in politics. – People want change and we are forced to deliver, he believes. Professor of political history at UiB, Yngve Flo, believes that the story of Sivertsen and Lokna shows the best of democracy. – This shows that it is possible to enter politics without being part of the established parties, says Flo. He does not know of any similar examples of local teams being skipped on election night. – But historically, politics was not something that was that established in the districts. It was more concentrated in the cities, he says. For the two new municipal council representatives in Sveio, the job of learning politics now begins. – I have a large support apparatus behind me, including the party leadership, other local teams in the region that I have on the hotline. In addition, I have a good dialogue with experienced people in politics in Sveio. We will try as best we can, says Sivertsen.
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The INP in Sveio was founded on election night – got two in the municipal council – news Vestland
