Loga ášši sámegillii. For many years, on average, one new voter registered for the Sami Parliament’s electoral roll each day, while this year there have been as many as five new daily registrations. Just since the election last year, nearly 2,000 people have signed up. You must be in this number of voters to be able to vote in Sami parliamentary elections. Nordkalott stream One of the parties that notices this growth is Nordkalottfolket. From being a small party with three representatives in 2017, they have now grown to become the Sami Parliament’s second largest, with 9 out of 39 representatives. But the Nordkalott people’s policy provokes many. They will share accrued Sami rights with Kvens and Norwegians. The Nordkalott people want greater equality for everyone who lives and works in the north. They point out that there are more Sami than those who deal with reindeer. Eirin Helen Iversen from Hammerfest is one of those who see that the Nordkalott people are speaking up for her. Eirin Helen Iversen is upset that people have different access to the natural resources in the north. Photo: Gyda Katrine Hesla / news – I signed up because I see how different rights we have to use nature up here, she says. – It is discriminatory and unfair. She says that she feels that Sea Sami have fewer rights than other Sami. – We want our heritage back! Nature is for everyone, and all private individuals and industries should have equal access and right to use nature. Now she encourages others to find their Sami voice in various message boards on Facebook. Is that what Eirin and the Nordkalott people are working for, a new wave of Sami liberation struggle? People who only now, 70 years after the Norwegianization policy was formally ended, finally dare to embrace their Saminess? Or is it an attack on accumulated Sami rights? The Sámi Parliament is located in Karasjok. But the growth in the Sami Parliament’s electorate is greatest in cities such as Tromsø, Harstad and Alta, as well as on the coast in Finnmark. Photo: Benjamin Fredriksen / news It simmers in Finnmark Professor at the Department of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen, Per Selle, believes that a key to the North Kalott people’s growth is that they are in clear opposition to what has been classic Sami parliament politics. – They appear as a critic of the Norwegian Sami National Confederation in everything they do. They want to change, and they want to renew Sami policy. Selle points to two things that make voters look towards the Nordkalott people: – One is that they are not a supporter of increased Sami self-determination. – The second point is that they believe that Indre Finnmark has too central a role in Sami politics, says Selle. Professor Per Selle has researched Sámi parliamentary elections. Photo: Elvi Rosita Norvang / news Selle says that the Nordkalott people collect votes because they advocate that reindeer herding should not have the last word; that there are many legitimate Sami interests; and that reindeer herding should be seen as one interest group among several. – This is quite a radical policy compared to what has been dominant in Sámi politics until now, says Selle. Group leader of Flyttsamelista in the Sami Parliament, Berit Marie PE Eira, fears this development. Eira says she is happy that many people are registering to vote, but that she is afraid that the Sami vote in Inner Finnmark will have to give way, if it is the Nordkalott people who get the majority of the new votes, from people who are now registering in the number of electors. – They want equal rights for everyone. They have opposed reindeer herding all along, that is really their main policy and that worries me a lot. Berit Marie PE Eira is leader of the Flyttsamelista party. Photo: Dan Robert Larsen / news Proud sailor Arne Kristian Vestre is the leader of the Nordkalottfolket. He says that the party has grown by as much as 200 per cent this year. He is pleased that they are growing in the number of voters. – It is very gratifying that people get involved and join the electorate in order to influence, says Vestre. He does not agree that the party’s politics threaten the classic Sami. He believes it is high time that Norwegianized Sea Sami also have their voices heard. – It is the Norwegianization policy that is the problem here. Now we must have a Sámi Parliament, which is important for us in order to be heard in the Storting and further down in Europe. Building our identity and culture! The Sámi Parliament is important for both Sámi, Kven and Norwegians. – We live in groups here. We operate in teams, we work in teams. We use the same nature, the same stretch of sea, the same hinterland, and then we must also be able to use the same democracy, says Vestre. Photo: Gyda Katrine Hesla / news At the same time as more and more people are able to participate in Sami democracy, news has revealed that there are people who have cheated their way in. – Do you know whether there are members of the Nordkalott people who are in the Sami Parliament’s electoral roll and who are not Sami? – No, I don’t know that. – Are you gay? – Yes. – Is it a provocative question to be asked? – No not at all! I’m proud of it. My ancestors were from Sørøya and were Sea Sami. And I’m proud of that. I try to make others proud of that too. We must not be ashamed of it at all. It is our culture and our identity. And we have to take care of that. Fears that the debate will destroy the Sámi Parliament Political editor in Nordlys, Skjalg Fjellheim, says it is a paradox that until now it has been applauded that the membership of the Sámi Parliament is increasing. Cheers from all sides. But now it has become a debate about who is signing up. – The debate will be able to leave an impression that as long as only the right Sami enroll, growth is good, but when the wrong Sami enroll, then it is problematic, says Fjellheim. Skjalg Fjellheim is political editor at Nordlys. Photo: Ksenia Novikova / news Fjellheim describes the debate about who meets the criteria to be in the electoral roll as explosive. – This is the most serious discussion about the Sami Parliament’s legitimacy since the Sami Parliament was established, says Fjellheim. It is clear that the Sámi Parliament will now investigate whether people actually meet the criteria to be included in the electoral roll. You have to meet two criteria to get the right to vote in Sámi parliamentary elections. Photo: Benjamin Fredriksen / news The editor believes that this discussion can be avoided by finding ways to tighten criteria and control routines. news has said that control by the Sami Parliament is almost non-existent – because it is difficult to check whether people have actually followed the criteria for registering.
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More and more people are joining the Sami Parliament’s electoral roll – news Troms and Finnmark
