– I came to Norway alone with my son. He was about two years old. It was very difficult. A very tough trip. But now I’m here. In the municipal council in Gol. Hadeel Jamal Huseen fled the war in Syria and came to Norway in 2015. Now Gol has become her new hometown. And just eight years after she came to Norway, Huseen has become a local politician for SV. She says she wants to give something back to the local community. The election last autumn gave her a seat on the municipal council in Gol. – I think it’s a lot of fun. Before the first meeting I was nervous and scared, but now I have become better acquainted with the issues and with the others in the municipal council. news has mapped all the new municipal councils in the country after the election this autumn. It shows that 244 of the politicians who have been elected are first-generation immigrants. This means that they themselves have moved to Norway, as Huseen did. Hadeel Jamal Huseen (SV) says she has been well received by those who live in Gol municipality. Photo: Synne Folstad Moen Fewer in the district municipalities In general, there is low representation. But there are big geographical differences. Cities and densely populated areas in the East have many immigrants who are politically active. Oslo, Lørenskog and Drammen top the list. 18 politicians with an immigrant background have joined the Oslo city council, but a majority of these are second-generation immigrants. In Lørenskog, nine first-generation immigrants have been given a place in the municipal council, in Drammen eight. Trondheim is also high on the list. But in the small district municipalities there are far fewer. In Trøndelag, a total of 17 first-generation immigrants have been given a seat on the municipal council. But if we consider Trondheim outside, there are only ten distributed among 37 municipalities. In Agder excluding Kristiansand, there are eight first-generation immigrants in the municipal council, in Troms excluding Tromsø there are only three, in Rogaland there are seven if we exclude Haugesund and Stavanger. In Møre and Romsdal there are eleven distributed among 26 municipalities if Ålesund is not included. Big differences But there are also big differences between different groups of immigrants, both when it comes to interest in politics and participation in elections. This is shown by a report from Statistics Norway which was published in October 2022. According to the report, immigrants from EU countries in Eastern Europe with foreign citizenship show very low voter turnout. This is where we find many migrant workers. For the Poles, voter turnout is below 10 percent. – Temporary migrant workers who are settled in Norway are not very interested in Norwegian politics. Those who intend to live here in the future and may have acquired citizenship are far more engaged, says election researcher Johannes Bergh. Electoral researcher Johannes Bergh at the Institute for Social Research says the immigrant voters Photo: Siri Vålberg Saugstad / news Mobilization Kurdish Sagvan Fathi Ahmed comes from northern Iraq. In 2019, he was far down on the list for the Ålesund Labor Party. But he got many personal votes and swept into the municipal council in Ålesund. In autumn he was re-elected. Ahmed boasts of the Norwegian democracy where you can disagree, but still respect each other. And now he encourages immigrants to get involved politically. – It is very important. Many immigrants should enter politics. We all need. Sagvan Fathi Ahmed (Ap) came from northern Iraq in 2001. He is now in his second term on the municipal council in Ålesund. Photo: Remi Sagen / news Votes for people Ahmed is not the only one who has managed to mobilize by acquiring extra votes for people. Voters can simply tick off people at the polling station that they particularly like or wish to support. They can also list names of people from parties they have not voted for. This can lead to them getting a higher place on the list they are on. And maybe they will join the municipal council. Immigrant voters use this quite actively, says electoral researcher Johannes Bergh. – There are many indications that the immigrant voters are more concerned with individuals than parties. And there are many politicians with an immigrant background who are elected because they have received significant personal votes. The contact with people Nesanet Hailemariam says that the Eritrean in her has made her stubborn. The left-wing politician has been given a place in the chairmanship of Nordre Follo. She has been in Norway for many years, but it was only this year that she made the list. She believes it is important to have close contact with people. – I like meeting people at home or at the centre, everywhere, discussing things that I’m interested in and that they care about. And it’s very rewarding that they want to use me as an advocate. Nesanet Hailemariam in Nordre Follo Venstre says she likes meeting people. Photo: Nordre Follo Venstre One must be happy to talk. And one must be fearless, says Hailemariam. But there is a bit of everything to get used to. And the language is otherwise too many. The language can become a threshold for immigrants who want to get involved in local politics. – Everyone respects me. And everyone is nice. But sometimes you are looked at a little strangely. I do not know Norwegian one hundred percent. But I do my best every single day, says Sagvan Fathi Ahmed.
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Around 245 first-generation immigrants joined municipal councils in Norway after the election this autumn – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
