It is heading for a highly dramatic leadership election in the Green Party. Will it be Hermstad or Haug who succeeds Une Bastholm as party leader? We will get an answer to that after the party’s digital extraordinary national meeting on Saturday. Hermstad is favorite to win the election. But the picture is far from clear, and the election could be far more exciting than the party leadership would like: Hermstad has been nominated by the election committee and has the support of four county leaders in the party, among them Oslo and Vestland. Grønn Ungdom and profiles such as Rasmus Hansson and Tommy Reinås from Trøndelag also support Hermstad. But six county leaders do not want to say who they will support in the election. Neither will the leader of Grønne Studentser. MDG’s spokesperson in Troms and Finnmark openly supports Haug. So do four of MDG’s five deputy mayors. Une Bastholm surprisingly announced during Arendalsuka this autumn that she would resign as party leader. She cited consideration for the family and a heavy workload over a long period of time as reasons. CHALLENGER: Kristoffer Robin Haug will take on Hermstad to become the new MDG leader during this weekend’s extraordinary national party meeting. Photo: Kristian Skårdalsmo Lottery draw? There are 208 delegates who have the right to vote at this weekend’s national meeting. In the event of a tie, there will be a run-off election. But if, after the re-election, there is still a tie between the two candidates, there will actually be a lottery, according to MDG’s general secretary Torkil Vederhus. MDG’s county teams have no tradition of binding the delegates. That will also be the case this time. Thus, it is highly unclear how the vote will end. In addition to heavy county teams such as Oslo and Vestland, the county leaders in Trøndelag and Rogaland also support Arild Hermstad. The experienced westerner served as party leader this autumn and also has a past as a national spokesperson for the MDGs. Nor are the delegates to the Oslo MDG bound. But county leader Sigrid Heiberg says the county team has “adopted clear support for Arild and Lan, so I hope the delegates take note of that”. FAVOURITE: Arild Hermstad is acting party leader for MDG and was also previously the party’s national spokesperson. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB Hermstad reaches the media, appeals widely and to people throughout the country, Heiberg believes. – Arild is not only a very nice and funny guy. He is a clear and courageous politician who is firmly planted in the green project, says Heiberg to news. – How confident are you that Hermstad will win this? – I am quite sure of that. He has very broad support in large parts of the party. – Hermstad has shown that he has taken the evaluation after the election seriously. He has spent time gathering the party together with deputy leader Ingrid Liland in recent months, says county leader Gjertrud Berg in Trøndelag. Lan Marie Berg from Oslo has been appointed by the selection committee as the new deputy chairperson. The post will become vacant if Hermstad is elected party leader. Silent county leaders But Hermstad will be challenged by Kristoffer Robin Haug from Viken. Haug has on several occasions met as an MDG representative in the Storting and is today a spokesperson for health policy. He challenged Hermstad for the position of deputy leader this spring, a contest he lost with 78 to 125 votes. – I believe that there is room in Norwegian politics for a new party, a broad and green people’s party that can take responsibility for the entirety of politics, while at the same time securing the livelihood for future generations, he said in “Political Quarter” on Friday. – In order for us to become that party, we must go through a process of change and become a different party than we are in people’s eyes today. But a number of MDG’s county leaders do not want to go public with who they will vote for in the election. This applies to Agder, Viken, Innlandet, Vestfold and Telemark, Møre and Romsdal and Nordland. SURPRISING: Une Bastholm resigned as MDG leader this autumn. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB Marius Heide, who is MDG’s spokesperson in Troms and Finnmark, however openly announces that he will support Haug. – The main reason is that Kristoffer Robin has a more varied professional background and has held positions in our party at all levels. It is a plus that he has worked with change management, since the party must change in order to grow further and show greater breadth in politics, he says. Heide emphasizes that he is voting for Haug and not against Hermstad. Four of MDG’s deputy mayors have also openly supported Haug: Benedikte Nes (Tokke), Eivind Hoff-Elimari (Nesodden), Ernst-Modest Herdieckerhoff (Lørenskog) and Martin Løken (Ås). – Kristoffer Robin is our most inspiring politician and our best speaker and debater, says Hoff-Elimari. – He is one of Norway’s most innovative, listening and generous politicians. In a way, he embodies the recommendations from the evaluation of our election campaign last year. He believes the leadership election is completely open and points out that Haug is among MDG’s most experienced elected officials, both at local, regional and national level.
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MDG’s leadership dispute can be decided by lottery – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
