The governing parties Ap and Sp are leaving behind a horrible 2022. In December, Ap had a polling average of a historically sad 17.8 per cent, while the Center Party was only the sixth largest party in the country. But on the way to the local election year 2023, the two parties can glimpse a little sun behind the gray clouds. Optimism – Now I have good faith that we can do better than in 2019, says Tromsø mayor Gunnar Wilhelmsen (Ap) to news when he sees what people have answered when they are asked what they would vote for if there were municipal elections now. Despite everything, the 23-year-old is far better than Ap’s pre-Christmas speech. In the columns below, the results are compared with the municipal elections in 2019, when the Center Party had its best municipal election of all time and the Labor Party the worst ever. Source: Norstat for news and Aftenposten. The turnout is compared to overall national turnout in the municipal elections 2019. Other party: The Democrats are calculated by Norstat to have a turnout of 1.4%. The Industrial and Business Party 1.2%. The pensioners’ party 0.5%. 4.1% of the votes are distributed to parties with lower support than 0.5%. The Labor Party thus compares itself to a local political bottom level in 2019. But when an Ap politician sees things in the light of the autumn of 2022, a weak number still elicits a smile. – This is significantly better than the parliamentary polls that have been in recent weeks, and there is a short way to the level we had in 2019, says Gunnar Wilhelmsen. He is one of the Labor Party mayors who can also point to local progress. This was shown by a measurement in Nordlys just before Christmas. You can see figures from the parliamentary poll at the bottom of the article. – Why do you think the Labor Party does better when we ask what people will vote for in a municipal election than nationally? – I think it comes from the fact that in Ap municipalities around the country there has been a lot of good social democratic politics, Wilhelmsen believes. Wants help Center Party politician Saxe Frøshaug is mayor in Indre Østfold and heads the party’s mayor network. MAYOR’S PARTY: Saxe Frøshaug is one of many SP mayors. Photo: Stein Ove Korneliussen / news – There is a decline from the election three years ago, there is no doubt about it. But at the same time, the national measurements have been down to 4-5 percent lately. This shows that we have twice as much support as in municipalities in Norway. It shows that the citizens still have great confidence in the work the Center Party does in the municipalities. Local political success is often measured in the number of mayors. Now the picture in the 356 Norwegian municipalities looks like this: The Labor Party: 148 mayors The Center Party: 134 mayors Right: 35 mayors Party leader Vedum has said the party has a good starting point, but the party must make a major election if they are to manage as many mayors as last time. Frøshaug believes that SP politicians in the municipalities need support from Vedum and the government. – Now the power price crisis is all-consuming. People are busy getting through the day. So we are dependent on good traction help from central management. Over the course of the winter, we must put in place structural measures that will ensure that residents and the business community have a better time. Solberg promises a fight But despite the red-green bright spot, it is also blue in this measurement. Høgre has attracted many voters since the last local election. If the party gets this support in the election in September, it will be the third best local election result in the party’s history. That will certainly mean more Høgre mayors than last time. – These are very good figures compared to the turnout in 2019. It is a good injection for our municipal politicians, says Høgre leader Erna Solberg. At the same time, she must see that the huge December advance from national politics has shrunk thoroughly when we now focus on local politics. In Norstat’s parliamentary poll for December carried out for news and Aftenposten, Høgre was close to being twice as big as Ap. When you ask the voters about their local political views, it is again the case that both the two traditional governing parties Høgre and Ap stand out. Higher makes it about four percentage points weaker in the municipal poll than in the parliamentary poll. For Ap and Sp it is the opposite, they have 3-4 percentage points better support locally than in national politics. – It is probably the case that Ap and Sp have a number of local mayors who have some local traction. But we will offer them a fight, says Solberg. BATTLE: Senior manager Solberg promises to fight for the big cities. Here with mayoral candidate Anne Lindboe in Oslo. Photo: Nadir Alam / news Ap governs both Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Stavanger and Tromsø, but Solberg believes that Høgre is in a position to win the power that the Labor Party now has in many large cities. – Yes, I think so. What also happens is that some of the other bourgeois parties do a little better in local surveys. But it is a long time until the municipal elections. We will work hard to retain our voters and to get more people to vote Høgre. Change of government In national politics, Høgre is still knocking out the government. Norstat has specifically asked voters about both local and parliamentary elections this time. Even if both Raudt, SV and to the extent MDG are stronger than in the previous parliamentary election, the strong decline for the governing party and the progress for Høgre would lead to Solberg becoming prime minister again if there was a general election now. The Storting poll shows that it would be possible for the Right, Frp and Liberals to form a political majority in the Storting. The figure for participation in the parliamentary poll is compared here with the last poll in 2022. Source: Norstat for news and Aftenpostten
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Repentance for the Labor Party, Erna Solberg promises to fight – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
