Bøhler said no to fifth place on the Oslo Ap list – NRK Norway – Summary of news from different parts of the country

Former Labor Party veteran Jan Bøhler today announced his transfer to the Center Party and agreed to run the Storting’s list for the Center Party in Oslo in next year’s elections.

Steinar Saghaug of the Oslo Labor Party confirms to NRK that he and several others worked for Jan Bøhler to secure a spot on the Labor Party’s list for next year’s parliamentary elections, through a fifth place on the Party’s list. Oslo Labor.

According to Saghaug, there was a real possibility that it could happen, but he says Bøhler was not interested in discussing this possibility.

A fifth place, as seen in opinion polls today, would be a battlefield on the Storting list for the Oslo Labor Party.

Bøhler tells NRK that this is something he doesn’t have an overview of and has nothing to do with.

– I hope we can part as friends and wish you luck, he says.

Read also: Jan Bøhler announces transfer to Center Party

In conversations with various parties

Bøhler is also said to have been in talks with the Pensioners’ Party and also considered making his own list, before announcing a transfer to the Center Party, writes VG. The leader of the local Pensioners’ Party team in Trøndelag, Harald Fagervold, confirms to NRK that he contacted Bøhler himself.

– We talked a bit back and forth and arranged a meeting at Furuset in Oslo, not long after. Then I went down there and met physically at the Furuset Center in Oslo.

According to Fagervold, this should have happened at the end of July. After this, it is said that they kept in touch and discussed that the name of the Pensioners Party was not the best.

– But the retired party had a national meeting ahead, and on the agenda was the possibility of changing the name of the retired party to the party of the generation, he says.

On the other hand, no national meeting was held, but rather a meeting only with county leaders. Therefore, the name change was not resumed.

According to Fagervold, he had been informed that Bøhler had several suitors in the field. He states that he was informed yesterday if he had made a decision that would be published today. Only today did he learn that Bøhler announced his transfer to the Center Party.

In the debate, Bøhler confirms that he had conversations with the party and was told what they represent, but that it was not relevant to go ahead.

Saghaug: – Worked for the appointment of Bøhler

At the same time that Bøhler was in talks with other parties, several of Bøhler’s allies in the Oslo Labor Party must have worked to include him on the party’s list, according to Steinar Saghaug of the Oslo Labor Party.

He says that he, along with many others, wanted Bøhler to continue in the Storting for the Labor Party.

– We went to the extreme of connecting you with key people in the Oslo Labor Party. Raymond Johansen, for example, who was willing to stand in line with an open hand and a cup of coffee to clarify what Jan is struggling with, says Saghaug, adding:

– We even talked then about looking for a place for Jan Bøhler on the list. Jan Bøhler has rejected absolutely everything. And in parallel with this, he, as I experience it, has played a double game in which he has then spoken with the Center Party and has put himself on that list at the same time that we are working to make him on the party list.

According to Saghaug, there was talk that Bøhler would be in fifth place on the list, but Bøhler turned it down.

Earlier today, Saghaug called Bøhler “the greatest political traitor he has experienced in more than fifty years of membership in the Labor Party” in a Facebook post.

– Last night I went to bed with a message from Jan Bøhler that suggested nothing of what was going to happen today. I woke up to what I experienced as a shock and terribly unpleasant experience that someone here has cheated on me. I have worked for Jan Bøhler and his appointment since he raised the question himself this summer, Saghaug said in Dagsnytt atten.

Read also: Labor Giant: – Jan Bøhler, the greatest traitor I have experienced in politics

Many reactions

Saghaug is not the only one in the Oslo Labor Party who has reacted to the transition. Andreas Hasle, who is part of the Oslo City Council, says he is disappointed.

– I am deeply disappointed and shocked that you choose to fail us after so many years in positions of trust in the Oslo Labor Party. He has been in positions of trust for more than 30 years, so now he leaves us. It’s both disappointing and shocking, he tells NRK.

The former minister and parliamentary representative of the Labor Party and the Oslo Labor Party, Thorbjørn Berntsen, is also striking a ruthless deal with Bøhler.

– It is a pure betrayal of Bøhler. But it doesn’t surprise me. I’ve known her for many years, but now she shits in her own nest. For Bøhler, it is clearly no longer about politics, but about his own position, Berntsen tells NRK.

After Thursday’s press conference, Bøhler was asked to comment on criticism from his former party colleagues.

– I won’t start with any internal bite. If you want to do that kind of discussion now, I just want to tell you that I was hoping we would part as friends. I wish you luck. All my political life I have worked for the problems and for the voters, not as a chauvinist party.

Støre: – Too bad he resigns

Party leader Jonas Gahr Støre in the Labor Party said today that they knew that Bøhler will not seek re-election by the Oslo Labor Party and that he believes it is a shame that he is resigning from the party.

For TV 2, he says that he distances himself from inappropriate statements by party members.

– You can’t use those words. I distance myself from that and have said it clearly in the party, says the Labor leader to the channel.

Center Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum says he can understand people being upset.

– I just have to respect that. So I think some of the vocabulary for today has been a bit harsh. The parties are not an end in themselves, they are only a means to an end.

Transfer reported to the Center Party

Bøhler himself wrote on his Facebook page this morning that he has accepted first place on the Oslo Sp parliamentary list in 2021.

– I have spoken a lot with Trygve Slagsvold Vedum and Bjørg Sandkjær, who is the leader of Oslo Sp, and their nominating committee about this lately. They want to support the ombudsman role that I defend as a politician. I have therefore agreed to be nominated first on the Center Party’s parliamentary list in Oslo in next year’s elections, Bøhler wrote.

At a press conference at 11am, Bøhler was introduced as the first candidate for Oslo Sp.

Vedum later bragged about Bøhler’s ability to be close to people.

– What has been one of the best things about working with Jan, I have known him since 2005, is the ability to be close to people in practice. Some parts of Oslo have big challenges with crime among young people. Jan knows people on both sides. We share the view that politicians should lift up ordinary workers, altogether we can become a strong team, both for our country and for Oslo, says Vedum.