But just after the election results in Tana were clear late on Monday evening, she answered as follows when news asked what went wrong: – I think we’ll sleep on it for a while before we have crystal clear answers, but it’s natural to think that this is the price for the Milky Way. And then we ourselves have to think through whether we have been clever enough to show that this is a local election. “The price for Melkøya” is the decision in the government that Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp) presented just before the election campaign started: The electrification of the gas plant on Melkøya in Hammerfest. Losing the mayor’s job Now the former deputy leader of Ap is in danger of losing the mayor’s job in her home municipality, which she negotiated for four years ago. – We had a strong desire to go forward, and it is disappointing that we instead go back, says Pedersen. However, she has not given up completely, and is still hoping for a positive negotiation result in the days and weeks to come. But the road can be very challenging for Pedersen. At the joint election vigil for the Conservative Party, the Center Party, the Liberal Party and the FRP, no one had any doubts. – Helga Pedersen is not Tana mayor for the next four years, said both Sp’s mayoral candidate Jon Erland Balto and Conservative candidate Anna Olivia Taksgård last night to news. JOY: Jon Erland Balto from SP and Anna Olivia Taksgård from Høyre are ready to work together in Tana. Photo: Eilif Aslaksen / news – Finally, after 32 years with the Labor board. are we the ones who will rule Tana, said Ellen Kristina Saba (H) with tears of joy flowing. Ap has six mandates, while the opposition parties, which now seem to form a majority, have 13 mandates in total. Helga Pedersen does not want to comment on anything about what must happen to the top management of the Labor Party or to party leader Jonas Gahr Støre. Earlier this year, Pedersen withdrew as a candidate for the job of party secretary in Ap after a telephone conversation with Gahr Støre. Moved home to become Labor mayor Another Labor politician with government experience must also use negotiation tactics to become mayor. On Tuesday morning, Johan Vasara in Kautokeino admits that the government’s Melkøya decision may have cost two mandates. – I am afraid that Støre, and especially Terje Aasland, contributed to us losing a fifth and a sixth mandate. We could get over 30 percent of the votes without the government’s Melkøya mess, he says to news. Vasara was state secretary in the Ministry of Transport until January this year, but resigned to become mayor of Kautokeino. As one of the few municipal parties, Kautokeino Ap went ahead and increased the mandates from two to four. MUST HAVE SUPPORT: Johan Vasara believes the Ap leadership’s Melkøya decision may have cost Kautokeino Ap two mandates. Photo: Nils John Porsanger / news But negotiations are necessary for Vasara to become mayor. He had the job from 2015 to 2019. Flyttsamelista won the election in Kautokeino, and mayoral candidate Anders Buljo is ready: – The voters have given notice. They want me as mayor, and I have great faith that I will gather a majority that supports me as mayor, he says to news. May lose mayors Also in two other “Ap countries”, Karasjok and Nesseby, the party may lose its mayor. In Nesseby, Ap must have help from SV so that Knut Store can continue as mayor. He has been there since 2011. Mayor of Karasjok, Svein Atle Somby (Ap) says that he had expected the election this year to be bad for him. On Tuesday morning, he thought more about the top management in the party. Photo: Tor Egil Rasmussen / news – I think we are out of step with the people. We struggle with the leadership in the party, and they come up with issues that are difficult to defend. This means that we do not get ahead with our local matters, says Somby. – I am not completely satisfied. But what I am satisfied with is that we have managed to retain so many votes, more than thirty percent. The Labor Party has governed Karasjok municipality with the exception of one period in the last thirty years. Now it seems that Ap will have to relinquish power in the Sami municipality. – We have had major challenges. First the Fosen case, and then Melkøya comes up there again. But with the fact that we still have so many votes, it shows that people understand that we at least have good politics at municipal level. – Do you think the government led by Jonas Gahr Støre has led you to make a bad choice? – Yes, that is absolutely clear. Both the Fosen and Melkøya cases have affected our election campaign in a negative direction. – Do you think Jonas should go? – I don’t know, but something must be done among the party leaders, says Somby.
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Ap-Helga: – Close to believing that this is the prize for Melkøya – news Sápmi
