Discussions are taking place in the election committee of the Labor Party. A new party leadership is to be elected at the national meeting in May, and several different versions or sketches are for consideration. news is aware that one possibility that the election committee is discussing is to replace sitting deputy Bjørnar Skjæran with Minister for Industry Jan Christian Vestre. But yesterday the county leaders in Nordland and Finnmark said that it would be “completely unthinkable” with a party leadership without representation from the coast or Norway north of Dovre. – The party organization just won’t accept that, county leader Mona Nilsen in Nordland told news. Finnmark Ap also expressed support for Bjørnar Skjæran, but after a board meeting yesterday, support seems to be hanging by a thin thread. Because according to Vadsø mayor Wenche Pedersen, the county team would now rather have former Labor deputy leader Helga Pedersen as party secretary than fight for Skjæran. PROPOSED: Tana mayor Helga Pedersen was deputy leader of Ap from 2007 to 2015. Now she wants to return to the leadership as party secretary. Here from the annual meeting of Finnmark Labor Party in 2018. Photo: Vidar Ruud / NTB Labor Party’s election committee Photo: William Jobling / news A separate election committee in the Labor Party is working to find names for the new party leadership that will be elected during the national meeting in Folkets hus on Youngstorget in the first week of May. It has been clarified that Jonas Gahr Støre will be appointed as leader for a new term and that the top party leadership will be expanded with another deputy leader. Tonje Brenna has broad support in the party and is expected to be nominated as the new deputy leader. Incumbent deputy leader Bjørnar Skjæran and party secretary Kjersti Stenseng both want re-election, but the election committee has also received a wide range of other input for these positions. Among them is Hadia Tajik, who was deputy leader until she resigned last year. In addition to the top management of four, a new central board is to be put together. Today, the central board has a total of 18 members in addition to the top management, who also meet there. Aps’ statutes state that there must be a 50 percent gender balance among the permanent members of the central board. The selection committee is chaired by LO leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik (pictured) and also consists of: Astrid Hoem (AUF), Frode Jacobsen (Oslo), Rigmor Aasrud (Innlandet), Even Røed (Buskerud), Sigurd Rafaelsen (Finnmark), Elin Weggesrud (Vestfold and Telemark), Marianne Bjorøy (Vestland), Åsmund Aukrust (Akershus), Amund Hellesø (Trøndelag) and Frode Fjeldsbø (Rogaland). Wants Helga Former Ap deputy leader Helga Pedersen has been mentioned as a possible candidate for new party secretary, but according to several sources news has spoken to, she will be a long way from full support in the election committee. Now the fight to get her back to Oslo and national politics from her home municipality of Tana, where she is now mayor, is intensifying. – Finnmark Ap wants to express its full support for Helga Pedersen as the new party secretary in the Labor Party, says Vadsø mayor Wenche Pedersen to news. She says the matter was dealt with at a board meeting in Finnmark Ap yesterday and claims the county association’s representative in the selection committee, Sigurd Rafaelsen, has been told to take this into account in further work. Initially, Finnmark Ap had expressed support for Bjørnar Skjæran as deputy leader, but when Helga Pedersen herself says that she is willing to rejoin the Ap leadership as party secretary, the picture changes, according to the Vadsø mayor. – It will be a completely new situation. We understand that Northern Norway cannot have two in the leadership, but if there is a chance to get Helga Pedersen as party secretary, then that is our first priority, says Wenche Pedersen. County leader Kristina Hansen rejects that the signals from Finnmark imply a scrapping of Bjørnar Skjæran: – It does not imply correctness that the Finnmark Labor Party has scrapped Bjørnar Skjæran. Beyond that, I have no comments, she says to news. Kjersti Stenseng wants re-election as Ap-top Skjæran in play One of the sketches that have been pending in the election committee in recent days means that Bjørnar Skjæran must step aside as deputy leader in favor of Jan Christian Vestre. Jonas Gahr Støre is not in the running as party leader, and it also seems clear that Minister of Education Tonje Brenna will be proposed as the new deputy leader in a party leadership which, in that case, will be expanded from three to four. Party secretary Kjersti Stenseng, like Skjæran, wants re-election, and that still seems to be the most likely, according to sources with insight into the election committee’s work. But nothing has been decided, news confirms. Among the cabals that are now added, Vestre is in favor of Skjæran. But then the following question arises: Can the Labor Party choose a leadership that consists of four easterners, three of whom are from Oslo and Akershus? Some in Ap think this is out of the question, such as the county teams in Nordland and Finnmark. But it may happen that the northernmost county teams can be “greased” with other positions in the central board. For example, there will be a proposal to replace Anette Trettebergstuen from Innlandet with Cecilie Myrseth from Troms as women’s political leader. In addition, Bjørnar Skjæran should have been offered to continue on the central board as an ordinary member and that Finnmark should get a representative, which the county does not currently have. Vadsø mayor Wenche Pedersen, who is also women’s policy leader in Finnmark Ap, strongly warns against demolishing Anette Trettebergstuen. – The Labor Party cannot remove its own Minister for Equality. Anette has done a fantastic job and has broad support in APS’s women’s network, says Pedersen. Trettebergstuen took over the position, which also gives her a seat on the APS central board, in 2021. She has thus only held the position for one national assembly period. Working on Bjørnar Skjæran himself is said to have expressed that he wants to continue as deputy chairman, and now the election committee’s main job is to gather around a unanimous recommendation. This is still the clear goal, because the order from party leader Jonas Gahr Støre was clear to the election committee and leader Peggy Hessen Følsvik: – We are a party that needs us to come together now. I think the voters expect that when we all have to contribute to get through a difficult time, he told news earlier this year. The selection committee is in the midst of its work, and it is possible that a clarification will come before the weekend. But it is at least as likely that this will not happen until next week. The ambition has been to present a recommendation in good time before the national meeting, which starts on 4 May. At the same time, there is nothing formal in the way of the proposal being first presented during the national meeting either, even if this had not been the plan in advance. Taus Vestre: No comment Industry Minister Jan Christian Vestre will not answer whether he would like to become part of the leadership of the Labor Party. Vestre attended the opening of the Children and Youth Parliament in Oslo on Thursday, but despite repeated attempts from news, his answer was the same when asked if he would make himself available as deputy chairman: – I have no comments on that. You have to talk to the selection committee about that. TAUS: Minister of Industry Jan Christian Vestre was happy to talk about politics during the opening of the Norwegian Parliament for Children and Youth. But questions about the leadership cabal in Ap remained unanswered. Photo: Annika Byrde / NTB Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre was also present during the opening, but he was not there at the same time as Vestre. As a result, the photographers did not get pictures of the two together today. DIALOGUE: Jonas Gahr Støre confirms that there is direct dialogue between him and the head of the election committee, but will not say whether Vestre’s name is mentioned. Here he is during the opening of the Children’s and Youth Parliament. Photo: Lisbeth Skei / news – We have an election committee, in which I have great confidence. The committee must be allowed to do its job in peace and quiet, Støre told news. – Have you given input to the selection committee that Vestre could be a relevant candidate as the new deputy chairman? – I have not mentioned names in my meetings with the election committee. I have said that party leadership and everyone must be assessed when we are in elections. It also applies to me. – Has the leader of the selection committee contacted you to hear your view on, among others, Vestre? – I am in contact with the leader of the election committee. It is completely natural when we enter the phase we are in now. – Have you discussed Vestre in particular? – I have no comment on that.
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Skjæran in play – several county teams want Helga Pedersen – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
