Had Jenny Alvestad Aarnes been five days younger, she could not have entered the list for the municipal elections this year. The 17-year-old was born on 27 December 2005. She is just within the limit of being able to become a local politician in Haram. But there is nothing to say about the courage and commitment. Aarnes is clear that she wants to help decide what her home municipality should be like. – I just: “Yes, I want to be at the top”, says Aarnes. – A bit scary, but exciting. She wants to reduce the differences between people, and have a particular focus on school policy. – So you get the same opportunities as those around you, and get to participate in the same social things – regardless of where your parents are from or how much money they have. The top of the list is crossing its fingers that she will be selected. – It’s a bit scary when it’s a small municipality like Haram, but I think it will be exciting. It will be fun to help influence the place I grew up in, and make it a nice environment for others to grow up in, she says. – We will try to take an active part in how the new municipality is shaped. I hope we will have a big impact and become more visible in the municipality, says the 17-year-old. Photo: Øyvind Sandnes / news Her home place, Haram, was forcibly merged with Ålesund municipality in 2017, to the great despair of many. Last year, however, it became clear that Haram will be allowed to become its own municipality again. It will happen next year, in 2024. Aarnes is therefore ready to bring SV’s policy into the new municipality. – Quite unusual – The trend in the last twenty years is that the municipal council is getting older and older. That’s what Bjarte Folkestad, who is an election researcher at the University of Volda, says as he shows us a graph. He believes that this can lead to decisions made in the municipalities not being in favor of the young. – The youth are in many ways double losers in this. They have low participation in politics, but also low representation. – Young people between the ages of 18 and 25 are underrepresented in Norwegian local politics. In recent years, there has been a stable number of young people, but they are underrepresented in relation to the population, says election researcher Bjarte Folkestad at the University of Volda. Photo: Øyvind Sandnes / news The election researcher says that it is traditionally the parties on the left in politics, such as Raudt and SV, which have the most young people on their lists. But for someone who turns 18 at the end of the year to be at the top of a party – that is not normal. – It is quite unusual. Here we are talking about a rather unique case where you have a very young candidate who is at the top of the list. But we have also had examples of young candidates who are at the top, and who become mayors. – I have always been very interested in politics, and have always wanted to try to help make a change, says Aarnes as she goes around schools to recruit members for SU. Photo: Øyvind Sandnes / news – We are not quite on the same page The commitment of Aarnes has come in with mother’s milk. Her mother is a local politician for the Center Party. – There have been some debates at home. We are not quite on the same side in politics, she says, laughing. – But she has always encouraged me to think for myself. Discussions at home have made me realize what I mean myself, and what I don’t mean. So I think it has been a very good influence that my mother and others in my family have been politically engaged. – Would you have been as politically engaged if your mother hadn’t been? – I do not know. As it is now, I think I would have been politically engaged anyway. But it is difficult to say how I would have developed if there were no discussions and debates at the dinner table, says Aarnes. Jenny Alvestad Aarnes and municipal director of Haram, Anders Norvald Hammer, meet each other for the first time in the municipal council hall in Brattvåg. Photo: Øyvind Sandnes / news – Good luck to the Municipal Director of Haram, Anders Norvald Hammer, says they are well underway in creating the new municipality. He has also taken a look at the various parties’ candidates. – What one can interpret from the electoral lists is that we get a good mix of experienced politicians, who are both politicians in the current municipality and were politicians in the former Haram municipality, and it is great to see that we are getting new politicians in who have not the same experience. And the fact that they have the youngest top of the list in the country is “just nice”, he says. – I wish her and all other politicians who are on the list in Haram the best of luck in the election campaign. I hope that those who succeed and are elected will be part of a good municipal board that makes good choices for the residents of the municipality in the future. Jenny Alvestad Aarnes stands behind the lectern in the municipal council hall in Brattvåg in Haram. She hopes to be able to stand there from the autumn as well. Photo: Øyvind Sandnes / news
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Jenny Alvestad Aarnes from Haram in SV is the youngest top of the list in the country – news Møre og Romsdal – Local news, TV and radio
