Raymond Johansen (Ap) led the Labor Party in Oslo to the worst election result since the war. According to the resigned city council leader, the government must take its share of the blame for the defeat in the capital and other major cities. – What was raised as the most important issues were seen as traditional, district political issues. We have struggled a bit there, with the government, quite simply. The statement came on Wednesday in an episode of “Podkast uten portfolio” from the Kruse Larsen communications agency. Johansen points out that he and other big city politicians in this government period have had to put their trust in SV in the Storting in typical city matters such as child welfare and public transport. – It was sometimes a bit special, says Johansen. In Politisk kvarter on Friday, Ap deputy leader Jan Christian Vestre was confronted with Johansen’s analysis of the Labor Party’s fall in the big cities. Vestre avoids answering the question. Want broad, red-green collaboration To reverse the negative trend, you should build a broad, red-green project, Johansen believes. – SV must join, and parts of the MDG must join. Convincing MDG leader Arild Hermstad and SV leader Kirsti Bergstø should be high on the agenda in the Labor Party, believes Raymond Johansen. Photo: Emilie Holtet / NTB Johansen points out that the government already has SV as its preferred budget partner. – When we have to prepare the national budget for Norway, which is the most important governing document, then it is somehow okay to cooperate. – Then only the government is missing, but I realize that work has to be done. It was not worked on at all until 2021, he believes. There is no doubt that the Labor Party wanted SV in a majority government, Vestre responds to Johansen’s statement. Jan Christian Vestre wants a red-green collaboration, but the answer to what that will look like is yet to come. Photo: news But he will not answer whether the party will work towards the specific, broad alliance Johansen envisions. – We will clarify in good time before the election what is our preferred government alternative, says Vestre. About Johansen’s proposal, AUF leader Astrid Hoem says that the party should seek cooperation with “everyone who wants to keep right-wing forces out of government offices”. – Building together and uniting Ap, Sp, SV and MDG on a common policy is a demanding project, isn’t it? – You can start tomorrow then. With cunning and leniency, a weakling is stronger than a giant, says Johansen in the podcast. Here is Raymond Johansen’s Ap/SV/MDG city council in 2019. This constellation ruled the capital between 2015 and 2023. Photo: Heiko Junge / Heiko Junge Realism and fundamentalism Johansen admits that such a broad coalition will be challenging to stack together. It will be particularly challenging to bring the MDGs into the fold. – There are many moralists with very long fingers in the MDG who can poke people in the eye, and I have very little respect for that, says Johansen. – But in Die Grüne in Germany, which I know many in MDG are keen to follow, the realists won over the fundamentalists, he adds. Leader of the Green Party in Germany, Annalena Baerbock, is in government with Olaf Scholz’s Social Democratic Party. Photo: John Macdougall / AFP – A warning Johansen believes the Labor Party has a lot to gain from building alliances with both the environmental and trade union movements. – That is where we have a strength, he says. He believes it is disturbing that the party has lost support among trade unionists over the years. Vestre agrees with Johansen that their support in the trade union movement is too low. – We see that we may not have been good enough to prioritize the cases, he admits. – This is a warning. It doesn’t work, says Johansen. How Ap evaluates the election defeat On 13 September, party secretary Kjersti Stenseng promised a thorough evaluation of the election results and the election campaign. Three different surveys among voters, members and list candidates are the basis for the evaluation. The investigations have resulted in a strategy document, which will be discussed at a separate strategy conference with 130 delegates at Gardermoen this weekend. Together with the evaluation, a separate document has been drawn up on the way forward towards the next parliamentary election in 2025. The strategy towards the 2025 election will be adopted at a national board meeting in April next year.
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Blames Ap/Sp cooperation for metropolitan collapse – news Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio
