SV shocked many when the party three years ago said no to entering government with the Labor Party and the Center Party. This week, SV leader Kirsti Bergstø was back at the hotel by the idyllic Hurdalsjøen for the first time since the dramatic days in 2021. It was here that the red-green party leaders sat together, behind closed doors and curtains, to decide who would rule the country. For several days, the three red-green parties were together. But then, on 29 September, a serious trio of leaders in SV came marching out: The party did not want to participate anymore. BACK: Today’s SV leader participated in the government talks at Hurdal three years ago. Photo: Kristian Skårdalsmo / news The three years that have passed have shown that it was right for SV to leave the talks, Bergstø believes today. – That was it. I believe that our analysis has proven to be correct. Our decision has stood, she says to news. As deputy chairman, Bergstø took part in the talks. – We summarized when we sat here, in the late hours of the night and until the early hours of the morning, that we were going to achieve more, greater impact, in negotiations in an open landscape in the Storting, than we would achieve by entering government. And it has remained this way ever since: SV was in opposition, but has been the government’s regular budget partner in the Storting. The shock The message from then SV leader Audun Lysbakken came as a great surprise to many, not least in the Labor Party and LO: There was no new red-green majority government. In retrospect, as support for Ap and Sp has steadily fallen in the polls, party veteran Martin Kolberg, among others, has advocated that SV should enter the government as soon as possible. The same has LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik. She would like to see SV inside the government offices. – The Labor Party, the Center Party and the SV must come together, said Følsvik at the LO congress in spring 2022. – It has been the LO’s goal that we should have a majority government with the Center Party and the SV led by the Labor Party. That will still be our goal, she told news shortly afterwards. SERIOUSLY: The SV leaders Torgeir Knag Fylkesnes, Audun Lysbakken and Kirsti Bergstø explained three years ago to the press and the country why the party would not go into government with Ap and Sp. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB Gæmslag SV invited party members to a cafe in Hurdal this week to celebrate the party’s success outside government. news joined the trip. In the annual negotiations on the state budgets in the Storting, SV has received billions for increased child benefit, more free dental health and after-school care. And the party has had to stop the search for completely new oil fields in the 26th licensing round for the rest of this parliamentary term. PARTY FRIENDS: SV leader Kirsti Bergstø visited allies in Hurdal this week. Photo: Kristian Skårdalsmo / news – SV has gained a lot from being in opposition. We have managed to implement two major reforms from the opposition, says SV’s county leader Haitham El-Noush in Akershus, referring to after-school care and dental health. SV’s group leader Balder Alvær Olafsen in the county council in Akershus also took part in the celebration. He believes it was right to say no to Hurdal, because SV did not gain a greater influence in social policy. – What are you most disappointed about that SV has not made it to the side? – I am impatient for us to achieve much, much more, he says, and highlights the need for a dental health reform. Changed balance of power One year before the election, news’s latest opinion poll shows a bourgeois majority with 91 against 76 red-green mandates. And then both Red and MDG are included on the red-green side. At the same time, SV is now significantly larger than the Center Party in the opinion poll: 8.4 percent against 5.1 percent in the latest news poll. It could change the dynamic on the red-green side if there were to be a red-green election victory. Because in the election campaign before the 2021 election, the Center Party was asked again and again whether it was relevant to sit in government with SV. The answer was always the same: No. Sp has maintained this position ever since. UTVEI: Kirsti Bergstø was deputy leader of SV during the negotiations at Hurdal three years ago. Now she has taken over as party leader. Photo: Kristian Skårdalsmo / news Bergstø says SV seeks power, but not at any price: We enter government if we can, but stand outside if we have to, she says, with an eye on next year’s election. – What is SV’s starting point if there is a red-green majority? – We very much want a red-green majority and think the red-green side should get together. – But the country has a government. Will SV demand new polls, new government negotiations, if there is a red-green majority? – Of course. A new election also means changes in the party landscape. We have seen that it is changing today. And it is linked to power relations and also negotiations around a political basis. – What do you do if Ap and Sp say that they are not interested in new probes with SV? – Now Ap has said the opposite. They have said that they want a red-green majority government, but not necessarily today’s, says Bergstø. – It is really the Center Party that has to turn around. Published 27/09/2024, at 07.09
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SV is now celebrating three years out of government with a cake – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
