– I should just be on the list at the bottom, because I don’t have time for this here. That’s what Børre Johan Johannessen says, who now sits on the municipal council in Lurøy for the Coastal Party. When news calls, he is at the lake fishing. That was also what he had intended to do this year. But the Lursø people who went to the polls on Monday wanted it differently. Børre has actually entered the municipal council because of personal votes. But that means that someone else will not get into the municipal council. It is Børre’s own father, Rudolf Ole Johannessen, who does not come in. – Certainly not the plan Lurøy municipality is the only municipality in the country where the Coastal Party gets a representative. Børre was in fifth place on the list for the Coastal Party. His father, Rudolf, was in first place. But Børre, the representative who came in, would actually rather have seen that it was the father who was sitting there. – We will make sure that the conditions for the fishermen are good. We don’t think the previous municipal council was very good at that, says Rudolf Ole Johannessen, who is the father of the new municipal council representative. Photo: Erling Omvik / Private – I don’t have time to beat my father, because I’m busy fishing. But it seems that people have confidence in me, he says and adds: – This was certainly not the plan. The plan was for the father, who is a retired fisherman, to come in. He had had more time to meet in the municipal council than his son, who is still an active fisherman. – We lack fishermen in politics. After all, we have a fisheries minister from Lurøy who is a farmer, so we must have fishermen in municipal politics, says Børre. Børre Johan Johannessen received 13 personal votes. The father, Rudolf Ole Johannesen, received 5 personal votes. Both received four strokes. Personal votes are very important But personal votes have a lot to say about how the municipal council is seen, says election researcher Signe Bock Segaard from UiO. – A quarter of all municipal council representatives are elected by individual votes, she says. – – You cannot cross people off the list. You could do that until 2003. Nor can you give a personal vote in Norwegian parliamentary elections, says election researcher Signe Bock Segaard. Photo: Photographer Carsten Muller If it was only the electoral roll that was decisive, the municipal council would have looked completely different, she explains. – The fact that someone wins the internal competition and moves up the list is not unusual, says Segaard. The reason this happens is that you can give both personal votes and put scumbags from other parties on the ballot. – What does it mean that you can give personal voices and write in slang? – It reduces the influence of the parties and gives the voters a corresponding influence. 90-year-old came in with personal voices And it’s not just the younger generation who comes in with personal voices. In Bodø Høgre, perhaps the oldest municipal council representative in the country has also come in with personal votes. Agnete Tjærandsen, aged 90, joined Bodø’s city council, as one of 39 representatives. Photo: Kåre Riibe Ramskjell / news She was actually in last place on Høgre’s list, but with 162 personal votes and 14 slanggars she came in 10th place. The head of the electoral board, Ola Smeplass, says that she got in with a good margin. He believes that it is important that people of her age both give and, not least, gain trust. – It is fantastic. It shows how well democracy works. This is not just for men with ties around fifty, here we have room for everyone. Does not get more votes with a personal vote But do voters get more votes if they vote for both a person and a party? Not really, says Johannes Bergh, head of the election research program at the Institute for Social Research. What happens is that you divide your voice into smaller parts. – The election takes place in two rounds. One thing is how many representatives each party has. The second is who will represent the party, says election researcher Johannes Bergh. Photo: William Jobling / news – If you give a nod to a candidate on another party list, you give some of your vote to the other party. It’s a slightly complicated calculation that varies slightly from municipality to municipality, but Bergh explains it like this: If you imagine a municipal council with 21 representatives, you give a 21-part to the other party if you give a personal vote. To make it even more complicated, the party has already given the candidates an extra vote in addition. Those candidates are highlighted on the list. They have a 25 percent lead on the others. – Not everyone is aware that when you give a personal vote, you are simultaneously deducting some of the vote you gave to the party you voted for, says Bergh. In the old days, it was common to change the lists only in small municipalities. Now it has also become common in the larger cities, explains the whale researcher. – At the last election, approx. half of the lists change. It has increased over several decades. – A super product The father of Børre in Lurøy does not take it seriously, even if he did not get into the municipal council. – It’s not the worst. To be completely honest, I actually wanted it. – Then perhaps Børre should have been at the top of the list? – Maybe so, but it just happened that way. But now that it was the way it was, the two fishermen think they can come up with a good back-up arrangement. – If he doesn’t have the opportunity, maybe I can get a ride, says the father. – He will be a super commodity. I reckon I’ll use him a lot, says the son.
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The coastal party has a mandate in the municipal council only in Lurøy – son danka out father with personal votes – news Nordland
