– As long as something is green, we can spend a lot of money on it, while the municipalities are about to go bankrupt, says farmer Lasse Johnsen in Alta. He calls it greenwashing when billions are to be used to run the gas plant on Melkøya with electricity from shore. Sambygdingen Frank Johansen draws the same point when news asks people on the street why the voters want something new. – The current means an incredible amount to Finnmark’s population. Because we know what the politicians say: That it won’t get more expensive. But it will be significantly more expensive here in Finnmark, he says. Frp largest in the north The diagnosis of the two agrees well with what the Progressive Party’s Bengt Rune Strifeldt has perceived. The representative of the Storting will get a party colleague from Finnmark into the Storting if the opinion polls stand for the election next autumn. The Labor Party will get only one mandate. – Such a choice would have been fantastic, says Strifeldt. But he does not give up: – There is only one measurement that is important, and that is the election next autumn. Opinion poll in Finnmark November 2024Party SupportChange24.4%FRP+13,620.4%AP−11,010.7%SV+4,510.0%H+3.29.4%PF−3.39.4%R+4.4 5.8%SP−12.62.9%MDG+0.62.5%V+1.11.2%KRF−0.51.2%INP+0.70.5%KON+0.10, 3%DEM−1.41.2%Other+0.4Click on the party circle to see the full party name. Based on 1,000 interviews conducted in the period 29.10.24–7.11.24. Margins of error from 0.4–3.7 pp. Source: Norstat The poll was conducted for news and Altaposten. The comparison is made against the election results in 2021. Finnmark will lose influence in the Storting next autumn, when the county goes from four to three mandates. (An equalization mandate is added.) Today, it is SV who would be best placed to get a fourth mandate. The big winner from the last election, the Center Party, has lost more than two out of three voters and is out of the Storting. Neither does Patientfokus get renewed trust, although they do not go back quite as much. Not quite a few red voters go a notch further to the left: Both SV and Rødt have almost doubled since the general election. Storting representatives Irene Ojala from Patientfokus and Geir Iversen from Sp do not get renewed trust from the Finnmarkings. Photo: PRESSEFOTO/news Frp’s victory march in the north mirrors a trend across the country. In Nettavisen’s survey last week, they are the country’s largest party with 24.2 per cent. With Nationen and Klassekampen, the FRP gets 21.3 per cent: They are bigger than the Labor Party, and hot on the heels of the Conservative Party. Expensive time and greenwashing – I think the voters in Finnmark are tired of expensive time, with high food prices, high interest rates and high electricity prices, which the government has not been able to solve, says Bengt Rune Strifeldt to news. He also doesn’t think the green shift has impressed the Finnmarkings. – We have a government that wants to use our electricity to electrify Melkøya. At the same time, the business world lacks the power to create new jobs – and ensure security for existing jobs, he says. – I think the voters are tired of the waste of taxpayers’ money on so-called green industrial projects, such as battery factories, which Støre launched as the core of the Labor Party’s climate policy. It has been a money grab, and it doesn’t look like it will stop there. Storting representative Bengt Rune Strifeldt came in on an equalization mandate at the last election. Since then, Frp’s support in Finnmark has more than doubled. Photo: Jonas Løken Estenstad / news Strifeldt believes Equinor should capture and store carbon on Melkøya if they wanted to do something worthwhile, and not just run greenwashing. He also claims that the healthcare provision in Alta is set 20 years back in time in three years with Ap and Sp in government. The people of Altaværing have protested strongly against the discontinuation of hospital services. – When they cut day surgery now, we are back to the health care we had in the early 2000s. It is the health authority that does it, but it has happened with the blessing of the current health minister, says Strifeldt. The eagle has crashed The Labor Party has almost halved its support in Finnmark in just over a decade. Since the last general election, they have lost one in three voters, according to the survey. – It is dramatic, of course, says Sigurd Rafaelsen. He is a parliamentary representative and leader of the Finnmark Labor Party. Sigurd Rafaelsen believes Ap together with government partner Sp has done a lot for people to live good lives in Finnmark. Photo: news He does not want to talk about Frp’s policy, but what Ap itself should do – and has done. – We will continue to be proud of the changes we have made for the Finnish markings. We have introduced free nursery school, and increased the write-down of student loans. We need to make that more visible, says Rafaelsen. He believes the government has delivered on important port developments, and ensured that Finnmark gets to keep important fishing quotas in the so-called open group. He defends the compromise on Melkøya, and says it amounts to delivering as much power as is used. – And then we will find the solutions that are needed to ensure low electricity prices, and that we have competitive power in our business sector in the future as well. Published 12.11.2024, at 06.00 Updated 12.11.2024, at 08.57
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FRP supremely largest in Finnmark – can get two in the Storting – news Troms and Finnmark
