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– Thanks a lot for the trust! I am really moved. This is a magical moment and I am so sorry I did not receive a hug now, said Guri Melby when the standing ovation ended.
With her are MPs Sveinung Rotevatn and Abid Raja, who really wanted to succeed Trine Skei Grande as leader of the Liberal Party.
When the new shamrock at the top of the Liberal Party met with the press afterward, it was clear to everyone that the old conflicts had now been resolved. Guri Melby was pleased that all were elected unanimously and without opposing candidates.
– It’s a good starting point to get the party together. We need it right now, he said.
Fight against abortion
Just before the election of a new leadership, the national meeting of the Liberal Party decided to extend the right to self-determined abortion. The purpose is to get rid of abortion boards that get kicked in if a woman wants an abortion after the 12th week of pregnancy.
However, a proposal to set a new limit for the 18th week of pregnancy fell by 86 to 101 votes. But the main reason for this was that such a formulation does not belong to the new principles program, but to the action program for the next legislature, which will not be approved until the spring.
– I voted to extend the border until week 18, says Guri Melby to Dagbladet. If the spring national meeting agrees with this, she will not move forward. But at KrF people are uneasy.
-Record that the Liberal Party will intervene to increase the right to self-determined abortion. KrF is in favor of strengthening the legal protection of the fetus, and although the Liberal Party is now taking a middle position, I completely disagree with this, KrF’s Jorunn Lossius tells Dagbladet.
At the national meeting this spring, the Labor Party may also step in to remove the committees and extend the right to self-determined abortion until week 18.
The young leader of the Liberal Party, Sondre Hansmark, argued that the Liberal National Assembly should declare this now. He noted that more than 90 percent of women who want an abortion after week 12 and therefore have to appear before the abortion committee, have their abortion approved.
– The court system is still from the past. It is an outdated system in which we must make changes. The decision must be placed where it belongs: with the woman, Hansmark said.
Give up
There was fierce opposition when the nominating committee this spring recommended the re-election of Trine Skei Grande, who ultimately decided to resign. Then came the crown and the planned national meeting where a new leader was to be elected was postponed until September. His two loyal MPs Ola Elvestuen and Terje Breivik were also thanked on Saturday.
– I look forward to working with Guri and Abid, said Sveinung Rotevatn, who will be appointed first vice president. The same message came from the second deputy Raja:
“We have a good tone and good personal chemistry,” said Raja, adding that the managerial trio now intends to “play well with each other.”
Just a month ago, the nominating committee announced that they had nominated Guri Melby for the party’s leadership position, followed by Sveinung Rotevatn as first vice president and Abid Raja as second vice president.
They were all elected on Saturday night and together they represent an important generational change in the Liberal Party. The election took place just after Trine Skei Grande fulfilled her wish when the National Assembly said no to active euthanasia.
Not to the war
Meanwhile, the three of them had been feeling their teeth for months. Apparently.
– We have read in the media that we are in a leadership battle. But we have worked together as usual throughout this period. I don’t follow that there were any problems, said Guri Melby in a triple interview with Rotevatn and Raja that he gave to Dagbladet before the national meeting.
Abid Raja also said in the interview that the internal struggle for power was exaggerated.
– It looked like a war, but it wasn’t. We all made ourselves available, so we were open to being the leaders or the deputy leaders of others, he said.
One Friday night he had enough
– I was disappointed
Sveinung Rotevatn was the first to come out openly and said that he would like to become the liberal leader.
– I’ll be so honest in saying that I was a little disappointed, Rotevatn said in the interview.
– When available, wait to be singled out. But I shook it off pretty fast. I have never been against others becoming leaders of the Liberal Party, because they are not opponents. But they have been competitors, he continued.
Ten years after Lars Sponheim took office, Trine Skei Grande resigned as Liberal leader at the national gathering in Gardermoen on Saturday night. The new leader Guri Melby was elected by acclamation, as were Vice Presidents Rotevatn and Raja.
Earlier in the day, Trine Skei Grande delivered her final speech at the national assembly as party leader. Then she spoke to Dagbladet:
– It is sad, but above all a relief, a burden that is lifted from my shoulders, said Trine Skei Grande.
For the past 20 to 25 years, I haven’t made much of a decision about what my life should be. Now I can look forward and control my life more for myself, she continued.
Book and wait
He also said that he will bring a book during the fall.
– It will be about the issues in which I have been involved as a liberal leader, I will try to describe them from my point of view. I will also draw red threads from the struggles we were in before entering the government, to the policies the government is following today.
– Will there be a separate chapter on Abid Raja, perhaps?
– No, there will not be a separate chapter on some individuals, but there will be separate chapters on individual cases that have been plaintiffs.
Left peaks: they appeared as war
– Too many leaks
In his press conference after the speech before the National Assembly, Grande addressed the party culture in the party.
– I want to remind everyone that if we want to keep the roof on our party, then we must take care of each other as human beings. We will take on the demanding debates, but we will never take offense in the fight. We will fight each other in a factual discussion, but we will never break up, Grande said.
– There have been too many leaks and we have not been good enough to take care of each other while discussing political issues, he said.
– Have you contributed to this culture?
– I think we can all be better versions of ourselves.
– So you have been affected by the culture?
– No, I can’t say that.
– Finally get rid of me
Rumors and leaks are a topic Skei Grande will return to in the next book.
– I will not settle for anyone, but I will tell the story in a broader panorama than the media usually do, he says.
Grande also opened her speech to the National Assembly in an unorthodox way:
– Now you’ve finally gotten rid of me, he said from the stage.
Grande explains to Dagbladet that this was an attempt at humor, not a stab at the rivals at the party.
– I said it because in the press it has sometimes seemed that the party wanted to get rid of me. It was a joke, he said.
