– I would probably go so far as to say that I think we are in a crisis. And we have to deal with the situation, says Martinsen to news. On Monday, party leader Jonas Gahr Støre addresses the Labor Party’s national board in Oslo, two weeks after the election. For Martinsen in the Østfold city of Fredrikstad, the mayoral chain was lost. It also did the same for Labor in the neighboring town of Sarpsborg, which has been Labor-led for 110 years. Now Martinsen, who sits on Ap’s national board, is asking the party to be honest about the situation. – We have lost a lot of trust, despite the fact that we know that people want a strong community, want the joint school and want many of the values we stand for. Mayors throughout the country Map display The mayor’s party in each municipality Map of Norway where each municipality is marked with the party color of the party that has the mayor Not decided yet Select area All of NorwayAgderInlandetMøre and RomsdalNordlandRogalandTroms and FinnmarkTrøndelagVestfold and TelemarkVestlandViken Party Mayors Change Labor Party 91 −59 Høyre 73 +40 Center Party 72 −58 Progress Party 12 +9 Christian People’s Party 8 −2 Socialist Left Party 3 −3 Liberals 1 −1 Green Party 0 −1 Others 14 −8 The overview shows in how many municipalities each party has been given the mayor. In 83 municipalities, it has not yet been decided who will be mayor. The change shows how many more or fewer mayors the parties have so far, compared to 2019. Last updated 23/9/2023. The mayoral map prepared by news shows that the two governing parties each lose dozens of mayors after the election. The right wing is the big winner, with at least 40 new mayors. Currently, Ap 59 and the Center Party have 58 fewer mayors than after the 2019 election. But: in 83 municipalities it is still not clear who will get the mayor’s chain. – I think that now it is important that the Labor Party takes a foot on the ground and recognizes the situation the party is in, says Martinsen. In Fredrikstad, the Conservative Party now takes over, for the first time in 100 years, the mayor. – No crisis The Labor Party received 21.6 per cent of the vote in the autumn municipal elections. Thus, for the first time in 99 years, the party was not the country’s largest in an election. That position was taken over by the Conservative Party. Labor is therefore losing power on a broad front, both in large cities such as Oslo, Bergen and Stavanger, and in symbolic municipalities such as Lillestrøm and Porsgrunn. Before the weekend, the Labor leader Martin Kolberg also described the situation in Labor as a crisis. news has on several occasions asked the Labor Party’s party secretary Kjersti Stenseng if she would call the situation in the party a crisis. She doesn’t want that. Neither will AP deputy leader Jan Christian Vestre. TOO BAD: Labor deputy leader Jan Christian Vestre believes the party can, will and must be better than in this autumn’s local elections. Photo: Eskil Wie Furunes – Why don’t you want to use that word? – Because I believe it is most important to get a common acknowledgment of what went wrong. And then both Martin and Siri and the whole party, for whom I have great respect, can be confident that we have understood this. The message has gone in, says Ap deputy leader Jan Christian Vestre. Now he promises that all stones will be turned over to find out what went wrong for Ap in the election. – This is a far too bad choice from Ap. We can and must and want to do much better than this. And then we must also have self-awareness, be self-critical, be honest with each other and precisely find out what went wrong and focus on the future. I think it’s more important than what we call it. LOST: Sindre Martinsen-Evje was, for the time being, the last in the line of Labor mayors in Sarpsborg in 110 years. Photo: Rune Fredriksen/news Prayer to the management Martinsen in Fredrikstad believes there are several reasons why Ap is struggling. She points both to the skewed distribution of income to the municipalities, a summer characterized by scandals surrounding the integrity of politicians and difficult times in the world. – We cannot point to one thing. We cannot point to one person. We cannot point to one issue. – But what we are completely dependent on is that we have a leadership now that understands the crisis we are in. Like Kolberg, Martinsen would also have liked to see SV enter the government. – I believe that a government with a majority, and a government in which SV is involved, would have been a better government. Especially in times of crisis, predictability is important, she says. But while Ap went to the polls in 2021 on a red-green majority government, the Center Party resisted. A government collaboration with SV is still rejected outright by the SP leadership. Previously, the two veteran mayors Robin Kåss in Porsgrunn and Hedda Foss Five have also sounded the alarm about the situation in the Labor Party. The party made a disastrous election in the old industrial area of Grenland, the two believe. The national board meeting that starts tomorrow will be a sort of starting point for AP’s evaluation of the election. It should be finished before Christmas.
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