People from “Raude” KrF criticize the new Lippestad party

Political Norway was in bed when lawyer and former Labor city councilor Geir Lippestad said via NRK on Tuesday night that he was starting a new party alongside several former Red KrF members.

Several former key Knut Arild Hareide employees have been involved in the launch of the new party, and today several former KrF members are signing up for the new project.

– It is very nice that people sign up and that shows that they want to contribute. At the same time, the most important thing is that people have contacted and said they will contribute to collecting 5,000 signatures, says Kristin Walstad, press contact at the Center.

The party gained around 50 members the first day after the project was made public.

– Narrower KrF

Odd Anders With is among those joining the new party, writes Adresseavisen. He was central to KrF during the Bondevik period in Norwegian politics, including as Secretary of State for several years and another deputy leader from 1999 to 2003.

When KrF decided to seek the cooperation of the government on the right side two years ago, it resigned and helped start the Christian Democratic network Drivkraft, which was to “make visible the community of values ​​between the center and the left.” They had almost 300 members in November of last year.

Con has now joined the Center Party, confirms to NRK.

– I have announced a transition to maintain my old political course. It is the schooner KrF that has been taken out of service with its ties to Frp, With says.

– This link is totally contrary to the values ​​that KrF has. It is a sad development, we see a closer match than before KrF.

– But won’t these two quite similar matches compete out of place?

– Fortunately, there are many parties that compete, and then it comes to being true to their values. FRP is as far away from KrF as possible.

KrF leader Kjell Ingolf Ropstad, for example, has not commented on the outcome of With a NRK.

The Drivkraft network writes on its Facebook page that the new party does not run from them.

– Lose an alternative

Another person denouncing a transfer to the city center is the former mayor of KrF in the municipality of Selje, Stein Robert Osdal.

– I have fought with KrF since the leadership elections in 2018. I have been involved, but have lacked an alternative. When this came up, the choice was very clear, he says.

Osdal says he refrains from being sincerely interested in changing KrF from within, gradually taking on more skeptical warts, with the case of the Moria children as “the penultimate nail in the coffin.”

KrF central advisers from the start

Two former members of the central communications staff with long careers at KrF have been part of the new Sentrum party from the beginning: Dag Fedøy and Gunnhild Sørås.

For NRK, they reasoned that they are concerned about the fight against exclusion and about diversity and inclusion.

– I am moved when one writes on the platform that Sentrum is an anti-populist party, says Fedøy.

He was a communications advisor in the KrF parliamentary group from 2011 to 2019 and was close to Knut Arild Hareide during the 2018 leadership election dispute. He was also a candidate for mayor of KrF in Nordre Follo in 2019 and is currently a representative deputy in the municipal council.

He thinks that KrF has also changed direction due to who has positions after the party took office.

– I feel a strong political community with many of those who now founded the Sentrum party, says Fedøy.

– You have municipal offices, isn’t it unfair to the voters who voted for KrF?

– Leaving the party locally has been one of the most demanding. At the same time, I will continue to direct the political program that we have here at the local level. We have a local cooperation agreement between KrF and the red-green parties that I represent, says Fedøy.

Gunnhild Sørås worked for KrF at the Storting from 2006 to 2020. He confirms to NRK that he has contributed communication assistance in the launch of the new match, but the victory time will show what role he will play in the match.

– I want to contribute to a climate of political debate that does not divide or create distance between people. This is especially true in the immigration debate, he says.

Skepticism among those who stay

At the same time, there is great skepticism about the party’s project among the “red politicians” who are turning into verandas at KrF. Anders Tyvand supported Knut Arild Hareide’s plan to collaborate with the left in 2018 and is currently on the central board of KrF. He does not agree with the analysis of the party’s shift to the right and believes that KrF is more united than in a long time.

– It is not with which party we cooperate that defines KrF, but someone with whom we must cooperate to move forward. Both sides of 2018 are well represented and I feel like people are motivated.

Development Aid Minister Dag Inge Ulstein was also on the red side during the leadership debate, but was given a seat in the Solberg government under the leadership of Kjell Ingolf Ropstad.

– I know I have even more mechanism in KrF and the problems we fight for every day. It doesn’t change anything for me, says Ulstein.

He believes that the new party can be positive for KrF.

– I think it really mobilizes KrF.

Trude Brosvik has been the mayor of KrF in Gulen for many years and a politician of the KrF county in western Norway. He has clearly been placed on the left side of KrF, but he will not join the new party.

– I believe that not all political battles are won, but a party is chosen and fought within it. I have not given up on KrF as a good political tool, says Brosvik.

Don’t skip

Not all those who have left positions at KrF immediately jump into the new project.

Dag Ivar Belck-Olsen was the head of the secretariat at KrF during the elections. When the red side lost, it was one of the staff who quit. Framleis is a member of KrF as a passive member.

has no plans to join the Partiet Sentrum no. But he is not surprised that former KrF employees are getting involved.

He says time will tell if there is a chance the new party will get enough voters.

– It seems that I was disappointed in the choice of the direction, and I hope that KrF changes the position until now, which as of today is blocked by a collaboration far to the right, says Belck-Olsen.