– 38.6 percent is wildly good! These are fantastically pleasing figures, says Kjartan Berland. The leading right-wing politician in Lillestrøm has a single big smile after seeing the opinion poll that Norstat has done for news. The turnout is actually twice as high as it was in the election four years ago. – It is also historic that the Conservative Party is taking the inside swing at Ap by being the largest party, he notes. Party barometer Lillestrøm What will you vote for in the municipal election? Compared to the 2019 election.Party Support Change38.6%HøyreH+19,024.5%ArbeiderpartietAP−5,411.1%FremskrittspartietFRP+0.47.9%Environmental Party De GrønneMDG+1.54.3%Socialist Liberal PartySV−0.73.4%People’s voteFR −1.72.6%Center PartySP−9.32.4%Pensionist PartyPP+0.72.2%RødtR−0.41.0%VenstreV−1.90.9%Kristelig FolkepartiKRF−1.51.1%OtherOther− 0.8600 interviews conducted in the period 25.4.23–28.4.23. Margins of error from −0.1–5.7 pp. Source: Norstat A political change can be healthy, says Rosell Utne Berge (tv). Andrine Lise Utne Holm (th) has just moved to Lillestrøm from Båtsfjord and has no opinion on who should run the municipality. Photo: Live Wold / news With over 100 years of continuous Labor government, it may be wise to have a change. This is also the opinion of Rosell Utne Berge, whom we meet at the Strømmen Storsenter shopping centre. – Because you follow the same track. It’s good to get some new people and other opinions and viewpoints, says Rosell. The primary voter Andrine Lise Utne Holm does not quite know what to think about the matter. She is a student and has just moved to the municipality. Lillestrøm city. Center at the back to the right with the railway station and Gardermobanen and Kongsvingerbanen. Lillestrøm exhibition hall, Norway’s Commodity Fair, and Thon Hotel Arena, in the middle by Nitelva. Photo: Samfoto Traditional red area Lillestrøm is the largest city in Romerike northeast of Oslo. And the municipality with the same name is the country’s ninth largest in terms of population. The municipality was created through a merger between Sørum, Fet and Skedsmo in 2020. The right has dreamed of taking power in red Skedsmo for many decades. Something they haven’t managed. But the new survey gives opposition leader Kjartan Berland (H) a unique starting point. Together, the Conservative Party and the Progress Party get close to 50 percent support and a majority of the representatives in the municipal council. If this is the result in the election in four months, Berland himself could end up “on the wall” as the first bourgeois mayor. On the wall hang the old mayor’s chains from Skedsmo and Sørum. High support in a recent opinion poll gives Høyre’s Kjartan Berland good opportunities to conquer the chain for the merged Lillestrøm municipality. Photo: Live Wold / news He believes the citizens are ready for a political change of course. – I think the municipality benefits greatly from that, after so many years of socialist rule. Deplorable numbers for the Center Party On the opposite side of the happiness scale are Ap and Sp. The Center Party has had seven seats in the municipal council and the deputy mayor in the last four years. But in the survey, they get a paltry 2.6 percent support and two places. The Labor Party gets 24.5 per cent, which is a decline of 5.4 per cent since the last election. – Fortunately, there is still a long time left until the election, says mayor Jørgen Vik (Ap) when he sees the figures. A somewhat dissatisfied mayor, Jørgen Vik (Ap), says they must spend more time telling people in Lillestrøm about their policy. Photo: Live Wold / news The mayor says he does not want to speculate on what the cause might be. – I think people who live in Lillestrøm know that there is safe and predictable governance with Ap at the helm. – But there is feedback here. But there are national trends, people have been given bad advice and high electricity prices. There are many reasons for this, he adds. Painful loss The Conservative Party, on the other hand, can enjoy a fantastic starting point ahead of this autumn’s election, says political scientist and election expert Svein Tore Marthinsen. – They have hoped to get the mayor for many, many years without having succeeded. Now it may be Kjartan Berland and the Conservative Party’s best chance. He thinks it will hurt Ap very much if they lose their bastion on Romerike. – After all, it is among Norway’s ten largest municipalities in terms of population. And it is very important for the Labor Party to keep Lillestrøm, so they are going to work on trying to drag down all those voters who are on the fence in order to defend power in Lillestrøm. But they obviously have a way to go, says Marthinsen. Mandate distribution Lillestrøm Representatives in the municipal council if the measurement was an election. Compared to the election result in 2019. HøyreH22+11ArbeiderpartietAP14−2FremskrittspartietFRP60Miljøpartiet De GrønneMDG5+1SenterpartietSP2−5Socialist VenstrepartiSV2−1People’s voiceFR2−1RedR10Pensionist partyPP10Christian FolkepartiKRF00−1VenstreV00−2600 interviews conducted in the period 25.4.23–2 8.4.23. Margins of error from −0.1–5.7 pp. Source: Norstat The figures show that Venstre and KrF also have to roll up their sleeves. Both have around one percent of the votes in the survey. It will not provide representatives in the municipal council. The bygdelista Folkets Røst is in with two mandates in the survey and the Pensioners’ Party with one representative. Both are relevant cooperation parties for the Conservative Party on the bourgeois side.
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opinion poll gives the Conservative Party 38 percent in Lillestrøm – news Oslo and Viken – Local news, TV and radio
