– As finance minister, he has taken us through a very tough time. But as a party leader, it is difficult to have confidence in a person who goes against a national government, says Tor Harald Mikkola. The leader of the Nordkapp Center Party (Sp) is still bitter about Trygve Slagsvold Vedum. He is not alone in being so among the grassroots of the party in the north. The reason is that Vedum broke with the party’s decision last year to steer clear of electrification of Equinor’s gas plant in Hammerfest. Trygve Slagsvold Vedum has received massive criticism from its own people for agreeing to electrify Equinor’s gas plant in Hammerfest. He presented the decision together with Jonas Gahr Støre in August last year, in Hammerfest. Photo: news Several SP politicians news is in contact with believe the Melkøya case is to blame for the fact that two out of three SP voters in Finnmark are now gone. And that in just under three years. Opinion poll in Finnmark November 2024Party SupportChange24.4%FRP+13,620.4%AP−11,010.7%SV+4,510.0%H+3.29.4%PF−3.39.4%R+4.4 5.8%SP−12.62.9%MDG+0.62.5%V+1.11.2%KRF−0.51.2%INP+0.70.5%KON+0.10, 3%DEM−1.41.2%Other+0.4Click on the party circle to see the full party name. Based on 1,000 interviews conducted in the period 29.10.24–7.11.24. Margins of error from 0.4–3.7 pp. Source: Norstat The poll was conducted for Altaposten and news. The comparison is made against the election results in 2021. Also in national polls carried out for news and other media in recent years, the party has fallen to similar support as in the north. Fulfilled promises, the voters do not turn up – I think we will get what we deserve, perhaps, says Kjelfrid Kjølås, who is a leader in Tana Sp. She also points to the Melkøya case as a reason for dissatisfaction among voters, but also that the party has become too hung up on individual cases when it is to boast of what it has achieved in government. Kjelfrid Kjølås in Tana Sp believes that Sp has itself to thank for voters now fleeing the party. Photo: Eilif Aslaksen / news – Not all voters need free daycare, she says. Kjølås also believes that Sp has lost that people experience expensive time. – And the current government must take the brunt of that. But it would have happened regardless of which government was in place. After the Melkøya decision, several of SP’s local teams in Finnmark demanded that he resign. In Karasjok, among other things, he was declared undesirable. Photo: NTB Sp experienced strong growth in the run-up to the election in 2021. They have actually fulfilled several of the promises they made to the voters in the north. news’s political commentator, Tone Sofie Aglen, therefore believes that the government feels the bad feedback from Finnmark is somewhat unfair. – Because they have done quite a few things. For example, introducing free daycare, free ferries and writing down student loans. Nevertheless, voters are fleeing the party in the north. – There are probably completely different issues that people feel are more important than these district political instruments, which were very dominant in the last election, and which were perhaps an important reason why the Center Party did very well in Finnmark as well, says Aglen. Tone Sofie Aglen says voters do not usually reward politicians for fulfilling election promises. It is who they believe is best able to solve the problems people have in their lives. Photo: Jon Petrusson / news Fisheries and health services The voters in Finnmark who voted SP in 2021, leak in particular to the FRP, but also to Rødt, SV and Høyre. In addition to Melkøya, Mikkola in Nordkapp believes that other major issues have also been a disadvantage for the people of Finnmark. Tor Harald Mikkola believes the Melkøya decision had direct consequences for Nordkapp Sp during the municipal election last year. They lost four seats in the municipal council. Photo: Kristian Sønvisen Bye He points out cuts in health care in Finnmark’s largest city, Alta, and not least the quota announcement: – It said nothing about, or had no positive ripple effects for, Finnmark. The fishermen along the entire coast had great expectations that an Ap-Sp government would give them more access to fish, at the expense of the large trawlers. However, they felt cheated when the quota notice was presented earlier this year. Afterwards, a number of ports were blocked in protest. At the same time, there is a crisis in the entire fishing industry, as a result of a general cut in quotas. Mikkola believes you have to go back 30 to 40 years to find a similar crisis along the coast. Want to stop wind power Sp’s parliamentary representative in Finnmark, Geir Iversen, has appeared in the media several times in the past year and asked the government to turn Melkøya around. Mikkola thinks it will be difficult to reverse the decision, but SP’s county leader in Finnmark, Heidi Holmgren, is not giving up. Finnmark Sp leader Heidi Holmgren still has confidence in her party leader Vedum. Photo: Berit Roald / NTB Especially when it comes to stopping the development of wind power along the Finnmark coast. The government believes that wind power development is essential for electrifying Equinor’s gas plants. – We are satisfied that that decision rests with the municipalities, says Holmgren. – It is important that those who get involved in the issue do so in the local political bodies in their municipality. In other words, a no to wind power in the relevant municipalities could create trouble for the government’s aim to electrify the gas plant in Hammerfest. The government is working on the project, which will cut emissions at Equinor’s gas plant on Melkøya in Hammerfest. But Finnmark Sp still believes that you have to turn around. Photo: Gunnar Sætra / Gunnar Sætra Holmgren still has confidence in Vedum as party leader, but says they have given the party leadership a clear message about where the county party still stands in the Melkøya case. – The party leadership has confirmed it many times to us in Finnmark, that it is both registered and taken into account, says Holmgren. SP’s party leadership has not yet responded to news’s questions about the matter. Published 18.11.2024, at 14.39
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The Center Party has lost two out of three voters in Finnmark – news Troms and Finnmark
