Both party leader Jonas Gahr Støre and the leader of the election committee Peggy Hessen Følsvik have said that renewal is necessary in the Labor Party’s central board. But as news has documented, the vast majority of party leaders in the central government want another election. Now mayor Erik Skjervagen from Fyresdal in Telemark says what many others in the party do not dare to say out loud: Far bigger changes are needed. – Absolutely, there is no doubt about that. The party organization has given very clear feedback about it, also Vestfold and Telemark Labor Party. I wholeheartedly support this, he says to news. Skjervagen receives support from Balsfjord mayor Gunda Johansen. When asked directly by news about what kind of changes should be made in APS’s top management, she says bluntly: – Replace large parts of the central board. Følsvik’s job A new central board will be elected at the national meeting this spring. It is LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik who manages the work in the election committee. Følsvik does not wish to comment on Skjervagen’s statements to news, but said this earlier this winter: – The selection committee is busy proposing a central board that contributes to renewal, and which also represents the entire breadth of the party organization in a good way. And Støre followed up: – My message is that we should think about renewal. We should think about politicians who can raise their eyes and look towards 2030. And we must think about people who are committed and united, he said. news has spoken to a number of Ap sources who expect replacements in the central government and greater representation from the county and the grassroots – not least in a year of local elections. – If you look at the composition today, it is firstly the people who have been there for a very long time. And secondly, there are very few mayors left at grassroots level, says Skjervagen. – Why is it a problem? – Because the central board must be a corrective and a listening body for the party leadership, and a body that has contact with the grassroots. Then there will be a problem if the central government does not have that kind of input to come up with. Labor mayor on Støre visit: – Nothing to shout about Skjervagen became mayor of Fyresdal in 2011 and was also deputy representative in the Storting in the previous term. Oslo Ap has also pointed out that changes are needed. – Oslo Ap wants changes in the party leadership and the central board, like several other county parties, said county secretary Øyvind Slåke to news a couple of weeks ago. Top out – top in Årdal Mayor Hilmar Høl from Vestland, Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt from Akershus and Storting politician Lise Christoffersen from Buskerud are not re-elected to the central board. RECORDED: Minister of Education Tonje Brenna. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB But this is not enough, believes Skjervagen. – Hilmar Høl is actually the kind of representative who should be there, so it doesn’t help anything, says the Fyresdal mayor, and continues: – Anniken Huitfeldt will probably only be replaced by Tonje Brenna, so in principle she will only be replaced by something else that is more of the same. So it is not enough. RECORDED: Storting President Masud Gharahkhani from Buskerud. Photo: Stian Lysberg Solum / NTB – Storting President Masud Gharahkhani has been proposed? – It doesn’t help anything either. We must have mayors who make daily and up-to-date contact with voters. Formally, Storting President Gharahkhani is number two after the king in the Norwegian power hierarchy. And Brenna is the Minister of Knowledge and a likely new deputy leader in Ap. In addition, Rogaland Ap wants a place for former deputy leader, minister and parliamentary politician Hadia Tajik as deputy leader and thus a member of the central board. Topptungt Kjeldene news has spoken with victory that the composition of the central board no longer harmonizes so well with the ambition to reflect the entire organisation. Since then, a number of the members of the central government have joined the government. Several are also county leaders. But with the exception of Høl, Huitfeldt and Christoffersen, news’s information shows that the rest of the central board members wish to be re-elected: Anette Trettebergstuen, Innlandet – head of APS’s women’s network Cecilie Myrseth, Troms Ingvild Kjerkol, Trøndelag Tore O. Sandvik, Trøndelag Per Vidar Kjølmoen, Møre and Romsdal Marte Mjøs Persen, Vestland Robert Cornels Nordli, Agder Terje Lien Aasland, Vestfold and Telemark Raymond Johansen, Oslo Jon-Ivar Nygård, Østfold Maria Aasen Svendsrud, Vestfold and Telemark In addition, LO’s three representatives will remain on the central board. This applies, in addition to Peggy Hessen Følsvik herself, to the leaders of the two largest unions in LO: Mette Nord in the Trade Union and Jørn Eggum in the Union. AUF’s leader meets in Ap’s central board anyway, which means that Astrid Hoem will also continue in office. Party leader Støre and deputy leader Bjørnar Skjæran also sit on the central board.
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