– The election committee has a big responsibility ahead of them in a demanding time for the party, says county secretary Øyvind Slåke to news. The decision that the board of Oslo Arbeiderparti reached on Tuesday does not say anything about who should leave or enter the party’s top management. But the county team has already been in favor of Jonas Gahr Støre being re-elected as party leader. – Oslo Ap wants changes in the party leadership and the central board, like several other county parties, says Slåke. – Why don’t you point to any specific people? – I have no comments beyond the decision we have made, Slåke said when asked by news after the meeting. – Are you not now starting big speculations about who will lead the party? – I have no further comments other than the decision we have made, replies the county secretary. Points to Tajik news knows that many in Oslo Ap want Hadia Tajik to return as deputy chair. Among them is the Homonettverket in the party, which is formally subordinate to Oslo Ap. – We see that the party is in a demanding situation these days. Against such a background, we need changes and renewal in the party leadership, says Jon Reidar Øyan to news. He is a city council member in Oslo and head of the gay network in the Labor Party. Earlier today he went on Facebook and in an interview with VG and announced his support for Hadia Tajik and Tonje Brenna as new deputy leaders in Ap. SUPPORTS TAJIK: Jon Reidar Øyan and the Homonettverket i Ap will have both Hadia Tajik and Tonje Brenna as deputy leaders. If both Brenna and Tajik are to come in as deputy chairpersons, it means that incumbent deputy chairperson Bjørnar Skjæran will have to leave. Party secretary Kjersti Stenseng must then also be replaced, out of consideration for the gender balance in the four-person party leadership. – It is a natural consequence of what we propose and something we agree with, says Øyan. The question of who should make up the party’s top management is also among the topics during the board meeting in Oslo Ap on Tuesday. On the way to the meeting at Youngstorget, county leader Frode Jacobsen would not answer the question from news if he thinks Hadia Tajik should become deputy leader again. – I will share my thoughts on this with the party board. Then we’ll have the discussion there and see what Oslo Ap has to say. As a large and important party, Ap also has room to discuss both politics and people, said Jacobsen. Hadia Tajik herself will not comment on the matter to news this evening. Deputy leader race The county teams in the Labor Party have until Friday to propose candidates for the central board and top party leadership. So far, Akershus, Troms, Agder, Innlandet, Møre og Romsdal and Trøndelag have proposed Tonje Brenna as deputy leader. But these decisions all open the way for current deputy leader Bjørnar Skjæran to continue alongside Brenna. And they do not mean that Kjersti Stenseng must give up as party secretary. But since Rogaland Ap has all proposed that Hadia Tajik return as deputy leader, a tangle has been created in any case that the election committee must resolve before the national meeting at the beginning of May. And on Tuesday, TV 2 reports that Monday’s board decision in Innlandet to promote re-election for Kjersti Stenseng does not have the entire county team behind it. Hamar Ap wants to replace Stenseng, and proposes Tonje Brenna and Jan Christian Vestre as deputy leaders. In that case, Bjørnar Skjæran also quits. There are also many people in the capital who want to be promoted to the Ap top, and there is considerable support for Hadia Tajik. After all, she has represented Oslo in the Storting for two periods, although since 2017 she has been elected from her home county of Rogaland. When the board of Oslo Ap met one week ago, they were unable to finish the nomination for the election committee. They contented themselves with proposing the re-election of Jonas Gahr Støre as party leader and entered city council leader Raymond Johansen and parliamentary representative Kamzy Gunaratnam as members of the central board. – The board of the Oslo Labor Party will discuss other candidates in our meeting on March 7, county secretary Øyvind Slåke told news after the meeting last Tuesday. Hoping for support The Homonettverket i Ap is organized as a so-called forum team under Oslo Ap and thus does not have formal input rights to the election committee. That is why tonight’s board meeting is followed with extra excitement by the gay network’s leader Jon Reidar Øyan. – Do you expect that the board of Oslo Ap tonight will propose Hadia Tajik to the party leadership? – I shouldn’t expect anything at all, but I very much hope that the party board has received the suggestions from key members and party teams, says Øyan to news. He points out that party veteran and former foreign minister Bjørn Tore Godal as well as parliamentary representative and former LO leader Trine Lise Sundnes are among those who have come out with support for Tajik and Brenna. Sundnes is also part of the board of Oslo Ap. – The two are among the most skilled politicians we have. They have delivered fantastic results in government and have a broad appeal, says Øyan. It is not at all certain that the Oslo Aps board will issue a strong statement of support in favor of Hadia Tajik later this evening, but chairman Frode Jacobsen is part of the election committee in the Labor Party and will in any case take the attitudes of the Ap members in the capital into the future the work. Frode Fjeldsbø, who heads Rogaland Ap and who launched Hadia Tajik’s deputy leadership candidacy, is also part of the election committee. More meetings Buskerud Ap also has a board meeting this evening. Here, too, the composition of the new central board is among the topics of discussion, but in advance it was not expected that the county team would come up with any particular recommendation related to the deputy leader issue. The tradition in Ap is that the county teams only field their own candidates. And although several county teams have chosen a different practice now, according to what news understands, both Østfold and Vestland Ap are on the same line that Buskerud is expected to follow. In the letter from the election committee, the county teams are asked to consider candidates who bring renewal and diversity to the party leadership. Also LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik, who heads the election committee, and Ap leader Jonas Gahr Støre himself have both emphasized the importance of renewal. But as news wrote at the weekend, the vast majority of the central board’s 21 members want to continue. So far, only Anniken Huitfeldt from Akershus and Hilmar Høl from Vestland have publicly expressed that they want to step down from the party leadership.
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Oslo Ap wants changes in the party leadership – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
