Limi says it is nice to be pointed to as Ketil Solvik-Olsen’s replacement and makes himself available as a candidate to become the new first deputy leader. – I want to be involved in developing this party further. I have been in the FRP for a long time and find it exciting to be involved in politics. And I think the FRP has enormous opportunities, now in the first instance at the election on 11 September this year, he says to news. But it will be a long-lasting battle to become Frp leader Sylvi Listhaug’s closest supporter in the party leadership when Solvik-Olsen resigns at this spring’s national meeting. Hans Andreas Limi from Akershus (62) is now proposed by his own county team Akershus. Bård Hoksrud (49) from Telemark has already announced that he wants to become deputy leader. The same has Erlend Wiborg (39) from Østfold. Frank Sve (55) from Møre og Romsdal has also been entered as deputy leader, but has not yet openly confirmed that he is a candidate. EXAMPLE: The Progress Party’s Hans Andreas Limi has a picture of former US President Ronald Reagan hanging in his office. Photo: Mats Rønning / news – No power struggle All four candidates sit in the Storting for the Progress Party. – Hans Andreas is a knowledgeable, experienced and stable politician with long experience and broad trust in the organisation, says county leader of Akershus FRP, Torbjørn Weisæth to news. VETERAN: Hans Andreas Limi was already part of Frp’s leadership 30 years ago, as general secretary in the period 1988–1994. Photo: Mats Rønning / news He says Listhaug, Terje Søviknes and Limi together will give the party a trio of leaders “breadth, experience, competence and the necessary dynamism” in an important period. – Will there be a power struggle in the FRP until the national meeting, Limi? – I don’t think there will be any power struggle. There are four candidates. Then it will be somewhat decisive what the selection committee proposes. Ultimately, it is the national assembly that decides. – So far, the candidates have appeared with positive signs and have spoken positively about each other. There is no power struggle going on, it is a competition. And the FRP likes competition. Long career Hans Andreas Limi was born in Porsgrunn in 1960. He has a long career in the Progress Party and already in 1982 became part of the leadership of Telemark Frp. The following year he took a seat on the chairmanship in Skien, and later he became general secretary of the Progress Party’s Youth and office manager and general secretary of the Progress Party. He held this office from 1988 to 1994, and the famous national meeting at Bolkesjø, where several key members of the young, liberal wing of the Progress Party broke with party leader Carl I. Hagen. For 20 years, Limi was out of politics and into the private business world, where he was, among other things, property manager at Olav Thon, development director at Steen & Strøm and later establishment director at ICA Norway. In 2013, he made a national political comeback as a representative of the Storting, and he is now in his third term as an elected member of the Storting. He was leader of the Frp in Akershus in the years 2012–2016 and is the party’s fiscal policy spokesperson. REPLACEMENT: Today’s FRP leadership, with Terje Søviknes (left), Ketil Solvik-Olsen and Sylvi Listhaug. Now Solvik-Olsen gives up. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB Will continue in the Storting If Limi becomes the new deputy speaker, he will also make himself available for another term in the Storting. – In not too long, there will be a new nomination ahead of the election in 2025. I want to signal clearly that I do not intend to drop out, but rather the opposite: I want to take a new term, he says. – Do you have any ambitions to become party leader? – No I have not. We are in the very fortunate situation that Listhaug, as leader of the FRP, will hopefully be so for many years to come. – If you become part of the party leadership, do you want to work for the FRP to enter government if there is a bourgeois majority in 2025? – I don’t see it as very relevant to take a position now. Now, in the first instance, there are county and municipal elections, then we will start preparing for 2025. A lot can happen before the general election in 2025. CENTRAL: In 2013, Limi made a national political comeback as a parliamentary representative, and he is now in his third term as elected to the Storting. Photo: Terje Pedersen / NTB As spokesperson for fiscal policy at the Storting, Limi has been heavily involved in chiseling out the FRP’s response to expensive times, price increases and the electricity price crisis recently. – We need to create predictability and stability for people and companies. We live in a very uncertain expensive time, he says. – That is the reason why the FRP has come up with a number of proposals to reduce fees and improve the electricity support scheme, simply to make it easier for people and our companies to get through this difficult time. New party leadership will be elected at the Progress Party’s national meeting at the end of April.
ttn-69
Tough fight to become Listhaug’s number two – news Norway – Overview of news from various parts of the country
