Majority for new Labor-led city council in Bergen – news Vestland

LATEST: Deputy mayor Linn Kristin Engø (Ap) commissions Rune Bakervik (Ap) to form a new city council in Bergen. – The feedback I have received indicates that he is the candidate most likely to form a new city council capable of governing, says Engø. She has listened to the city council to find out what parliamentary basis exists for a new city council. After talks throughout the week, it turned out that there was a majority for the Labor Party’s city council leader candidate in Bergen, Rune Bakervik, on Friday afternoon. Thus, there was a parliamentary majority in favor of an Ap-led city council meeting for the third time this city council period, with Bakervik at the top. – Will the new city council be different from before? – His talks with the other parties must determine what the new city council will look like, says Engø. Resigned after the child welfare scandal It happens two weeks after the Valhammer-led city council resigned as a result of the child welfare scandal in the municipality. One of the most serious cases uncovered was that a seven-year-old boy was found tied to a bed in Bergen. The majority in the city council put forward motions of no confidence against the sitting city council in the child protection cases, and the Valhammer city council chose to resign. The mayor of Bergen, Rune Bakervik, was appointed as the new city council leader candidate for Ap. The parties in the city council have this week informed deputy mayor Linn Kristin Engø (Ap) of who they think should govern the city. Engø has announced that she will issue a press release on Friday afternoon. Majority in the city council To form a new city council, you must either have a majority in the city council or a minority against you. In Bergen, the magic number is 34. From before, Ap, MDG, SV, Rødt and Venstre, with a total of 32 votes in the city council, have expressed their support for Bakervik. On Friday, both Sps and KrF’s city council groups announced that they will also support an Ap-led city council. With SP’s five and KrF’s two votes, the number of city council representatives who support Bakervik will be 39, i.e. 5 more than the required majority of 34. – We want stability and predictability for our city for the rest of the period. Especially considering the situation in child protection, it is important that we ensure continuity, in order to achieve the best possible follow-up and implementation of the measures outlined for child protection, says acting group leader in Sp, Anne Brit Reigstad. Sp believes it is important to have as few structural changes as possible until the election next autumn, says acting group leader Anne Brit Reigstad. Photo: Thomas Thorsen / news Believes Høyre city council could not govern KrF says they have had several talks with Høyre in recent weeks. – The talks have not given KrF security that there is a basis for a new city council capable of governing as of now. The parliamentary basis behind such a city council is simply not present, writes group leader Håkon Pettersen in a press release. KrF writes that they believe the city council should find together across the blocks “about measures that give vulnerable children the help they should have.” – KrF believes that the best thing would be for the Labor Party to form a city council without wing parties, so that they can seek different majority constellations in the city council, writes Pettersen. The right’s group leader, Charlotte Spurkeland, says they were ready to take over control of Bergen, if they were pointed out. She sees no advantage in Ap being pointed at. – I think we would have been ready to deal with the challenges and problems that have been in child protection, says Spurkeland. Third round The first Valhammer-led city council resigned in November 2021. The then city council leader Roger Valhammer (Ap) did not get a majority in the light rail case and asked cabinet questions. But there was not a majority for a bourgeois majority, so the Labor city council went to work again early in December of the same year. Rune Bakervik has been the mayor of Bergen since Marte Mjøs Persen became a minister last autumn. Photo: Jon Bolstad / news



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