“Strange”, thought Vadsø mayor Wenche Pedersen about Lebesby mayor Sigurd Rafaelsen standing up for Stenseng over Helga Pedersen when the proposal for a new Ap leadership was presented. Before the national meeting in a week, Rafaelsen now has a clear message for party members: – I am part of a unanimous election committee, which has submitted a proposal to the national meeting. It has been a long process where we have finally come together on a recommendation that I consider has support, says Rafaelsen to news. Finnmarkingen is the son of the high-profile, former mayor of Sør-Varanger, Rune Rafaelsen. ASKING FOR SUPPORT: We have come together on a proposal and recommended it to the national meeting, says Sigurd Rafaelsen, who represented Finnmark Ap in the election committee. Photo: Hanna Johre / news Sigurd Rafaelsen defends the election committee’s recommendation and says it shows “great respect for Bjørnar Skjæran’s decision to make way for renewal of the party”. Skjæran resigned as deputy chair and thus made way for Jan Christian Vestre, who has been appointed as the new deputy chair, like Tonje Brenna. – Here he puts the party’s future before himself. In the proposal, Northern Norway has received three members of the central government who can work for our issues such as fisheries, power, population development, defense and geopolitics, says Rafaelsen in an SMS. – At the same time, we have proposed a management with good knowledge and a strong commitment to Norway in the north, he argues. Intense power struggle It is still unclear whether there will be a dramatic battle for the powerful position of APS’s “day-to-day leader” at the national meeting. For former Labor deputy leader and Tana mayor Helga Pedersen has not yet clarified whether she will run as Stenseng’s opponent for the job of party secretary. – I have nothing new to report today, she says to news on Friday. The national meeting begins with a speech from party leader and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap) on Thursday at 12 noon. The election of a new party leadership will take place on Friday in a week’s time. As news has previously mentioned, intense work is now underway on both sides to map support and support for the two. MATCH VOTING? There may be a showdown between Helga Pedersen (left) and Kjersti Stenseng over the party secretary job in Ap at the party’s national meeting in a week’s time. Photo: Vidar Ruud / NTB In the selection committee, Sigurd Rafaelsen spoke for Northern Norway, and the three northernmost counties also ended up each getting a representative on the APS central board: Kristina Hansen from Finnmark, Cecilie Myrseth from Troms and Bjørnar Skjæran from Nordland. But before the nomination was submitted, Rafaelsen flagged support for the proposal to replace Stenseng with Pedersen as the new party secretary, according to what news learns. Now he is therefore asking the party to give up on the position that was finally presented. – We must respect that it is the delegates who decide, but this is the proposal we have gathered about and recommended to the national meeting. – It is a privilege that we have many talented candidates in Ap. It is natural that names are discussed when there are elections for the party’s most central positions, Rafaelsen continues and says he “will not make any admonitions to the delegations” at the national meeting. – It is the national assembly and the member democracy that decide. This is how it has to be, he continues. This is the distribution of delegates for the Labor Party meeting Østfold: 16 Akershus: 28 Oslo: 31 Innlandet: 36 Buskerud: 12 Vestfold – Telemark: 24 Agder: 14 Rogaland: 17 Vestland: 32 Møre og Romsdal: 12 Trøndelag: 42 Nordland: 16 Troms: 10 Finnmark: 9 Svalbard: 1 (Source: Arbeiderpartiet) Split In the days after the election committee came up with its recommendation, news and other media have mapped the balance of power between de Stenseng and Pedersen. Kjersti Stenseng, who has been party secretary since 2015, can primarily boast that she has a unanimous election committee behind her. It normally weighs heavily in Ap, where there is no tradition of challenging such a proposal, several sources claim. Stenseng from Kvam in Nord-Fron in Inlandet also has the LO family behind it. The selection committee was chaired by LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik. She managed to carve out a compromise that all eleven of the committee could get behind. At the same time, it is believed that Stenseng has solid support in Trøndelag, Vestland and Akershus to get two more years in the job. Together, the three teams have 102 of the 300 delegates at the national meeting. – We have to put this discussion about changing the party secretary dead. There is a week until the national meeting, now we have to discuss politics. The ball must be left dead, says Trøndelag’s delegation leader Per Olav Hopsø to Dagbladet. And Hanne-Berit Brekken in Møre og Romsdal Ap tells the newspaper that there is unanimous support for Stenseng in her county. In the north, both the leader of Nordland Ap, Mona Nilsen, and the Aps county council leader in Troms and Finnmark, Kristina Torbergsen, have, according to Nordlys, asked their party colleagues to vote for the election committee’s proposal. COMPROMISE: LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik led Ap’s election committee. Photo: Rodrigo Freitas / NTB But there are divided opinions in all three northernmost counties, according to what news understands. In Finnmark, Vadsø mayor Wenche Pedersen has openly criticized the election committee’s assessments. She is one of five mayors in East Finnmark who support Pedersen, according to iFinnmark. They have not, however, caught up with their colleagues in the west of the county. And today two of Ap’s deputy mayors in Nordland, Lena Hamnes in Vågan and Eva-Karin Busch in Vestvågøy, tell VG that they want Pedersen as party secretary. There are also different views in Troms Ap, according to TV 2 and Aftenposten, which news has also confirmed. Helga Pedersen’s supporters believe she has a real chance of winning a possible match vote. In the election committee, several county teams were positive about Pedersen’s candidacy, which was recorded right at the start of the work. Both Oslo, Finnmark, Buskerud, Vestfold and Telemark and Rogaland flagged support for Helga Pedersen, according to what news is informed. However, Akershus, Innlandet, LO, Trøndelag and Vestland are said to have supported Stenseng. TV 2 has previously told about a divided election committee. However, the selection committee ended up with a unanimous recommendation for Stenseng. It can be taken for granted that any match voting between the two at the national meeting will be in writing and secret. This means that the 300 delegates will not be bound by their county or local team and can vote according to their own convictions rather than following advice from the county team’s management. The question is how many this applies to, and how broad is the support for Helga Pedersen in other county teams and not least in AUF. – Rart Vadsø mayor Wenche Pedersen believes Pedersen should replace Stenseng. In front of news, she described it last Friday as “strange” that three people from the north were prioritized in the central government rather than getting a Finnmarking as party secretary. In Ap, the party secretary is a very powerful figure. – You had a chance to get Helga into the management, but chose to take part in a unanimous decision about the three. I have to take note that our people in the election committee have thought like that, says the experienced Ap politician. – I would prioritize Helga as party secretary if I were to choose. But I register that people have wanted it differently from Northern Norway, said Pedersen, who also leads the party’s women’s network in Finnmark. INSPECTION: Vadsø mayor Wenche Pedersen wants Helga Pedersen as the new party secretary in Ap. Photo: Knut-Sverre Horn
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Full discord about powerful top job – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
