Already on 1 September, the board of Vestre Toten Høgre voted no-confidence against the party’s mayoral candidate, Kjetil Sangnes. The reason is a concrete incident the top candidate was involved in. It is said to have been about disagreements that escalated between Sangnes and other elected officials from other parties in the municipality. – The matter is serious in relation to Høgre’s regulations, says head of Vestre Toten Høgre, Øivind Sørhusbakken. – There is no reason to exclude him from the party, but it is a clear breach of Høgre’s ethical guidelines. Head of Vestre Toten Høgre, Øivind Sørhusbakken. Photo: Roar Berntsen / news On Wednesday, the municipal board group for Høgre i Vestre Toten also agreed that they have no confidence in the mayoral candidate. Sørhusbakken emphasizes that Sangnes is still a member of Høgre, and has a place in the municipal board group. – We have only made a decision on whether he is our candidate for mayor or not. Get the deputy mayor – but don’t know who it will be Updated: On Thursday afternoon, it became clear that Høgre, the Center Party and the FRP have agreed on a collaboration. The center party gets the mayor. Thus, 36-year-old Dorthe Ødegaard Benckert becomes the new mayor of Vestre Toten. NEW MAYOR: Dorthe Ødegaard Benckert (36) from the Center Party. Photo: Private / private Høgre gets the deputy mayor. But since those at the top of the list no longer have confidence, they must find someone else for the position. It cannot be Kjetil Sangnes, says negotiation leader Elin Synnøve Solberg. Who it will be instead will be decided at the group board meeting on Monday. Elin Synnøve Solberg, says the lack of confidence is also a reason why they give Sp the mayorship, even though Høgre was bigger than them in the election. – It is the best thing for the climate of interaction going forward in view of the unrest surrounding our candidate, she says. Hiding it Both the board of Vestre Toten Høgre and the county party were aware of the case against the mayoral candidate before election day, according to OA. Nevertheless, they chose to keep it a secret from the voters. Sørhusbakken says that it was out of consideration for the mayoral candidate that they did not tell the voters about the situation. – We know there had been a lot of speculation, so to take care of him, we have chosen to resolve the matter internally, says Sørhusbakken. – Isn’t that deceiving the voters? – No, I don’t think so. We have voters who believe in Høgre. It is important to us. It is also important for us to bring about a change in the municipality after 100 years of Labor Party government. Here, we have done what we can to ensure that he has the best possible situation. In a press release, the local team wrote that they consider themselves to be done with the matter. Sorry The former mayoral candidate is sorry for the situation. – I must regret that the party and the entire politics in Vestre Toten have been seen in this situation. It hurts, says Sangnes to news. – I feel I have done everything I can to lay low, apologize and apologize. It is not me as a person to use such strong words as I did in the message exchange. It was a reaction to frustration on my part. THE WRECK: Kjetil Sangnes was a mayoral candidate for Høgre i Vestre Toten. Now the party has rejected him as a mayoral candidate, but he has not been excluded from the party. Photo: Roar Berntsen / news A week ago he learned that the board of the local team had mistrusted him. On Saturday, two days before the election, he stood up and fought for the party. – I personally have not deceived the voters, I feel. I hoped and believed that we would be together. Favorite among the voters, Høgre had a by-election in the industrial municipality of Toten, where the Labor Party has governed since 1923. The party advanced 6.6 percentage points from the previous election and still with 22 percent support. With that, they became bigger than the Center Party, and won seven mandates in the municipal council. Sangnes was also a favorite among the voters in Vestre Toten. The election protocol from Vestre Toten shows that the mayoral candidate from Høgre was the politician who received the most votes and personal votes. He got 40 votes and 351 personal votes in a municipality where 11,181 people have the right to vote.
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Vestre Toten Høgre has distrusted its own mayoral candidate – news Innlandet – Local news, TV and radio
