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– We have no one to lose. This is not the time to divide Christian democracy. Time for a meeting, Steensnæs tells Dagbladet.
He fears that the newly formed Sentrum party could steal so much with the votes that KrF ends up below the 4 percent threshold in next year’s elections. Then the party will run out of equalization mandates.
– Most likely we will be represented by Agder and Rogaland, but KrF runs the risk of collapse. KrF is absolutely in danger of downsizing and must work very hard to ensure representation, Steensnæs says.
– Not applicable to change
Einar Steensnæs has twelve years of experience as a parliamentary representative and has experience in the government of three ministries. The 78-year-old is an honorary party member and has served as both deputy leader and parliamentary leader.
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When asked if it is relevant for him to break with KrF and when Dagrun Eriksen announces the transition to the new Sentrum party formation, he answers no.
– It’s just not relevant. Partly for strategic reasons that I have been in, but also because I support the party program and have full confidence in the program committee with Erik Lunde at the helm, says Steensnæs.
Like Erik Lunde, he wanted to follow former KrF leader Knut Arild Hareide in a binding collaboration with the Labor Party and the Socialist People’s Party. As is well known, this was not the case.
Exchange party
Several well-known KrF names have broken with the party after the 2018 leadership election that made Kjell Ingolf Ropstad the party’s leader and sent KrF to government with Frp the following year.
The KrF cap warns: – Poison for machinery
Yesterday, former Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik’s grandson Simen announced that he was resigning from KrF. A month ago, KrF deputy leader and parliamentary representative Dagrun Eriksen (49) did the same. And today it became clear that he will join the Sentrum party formation.
– I felt homeless after choosing the route in 2018, Eriksen said in an interview with Aftenposten on Tuesday, where he announced the transition.
KrF leader Kjell Ingolf Ropstad tells Dagbladet that he wishes Eriksen good luck in his new party.
– Dagrun is a politician for whom I have great respect and with whom I have worked well for a long time. We have had a lot of fun together at KrF, says Ropstad.
Geir Lippestad will be the main figure in the festival of the new city center
Without worries
When asked if he fears that the formation of the Sentrum party will ruin KrF’s chances in next year’s elections, Kjell Ingolf Ropstad responds as follows:
– At the moment, I don’t think Sentrum, on the one hand, or the De Kristne party, on the other, is the biggest challenge for KrF. The most important thing for us is to find our solutions.
– Few votes will decide if you finish above or below the threshold. Can the voters who vote for the Center decide if it is successful?
Son of Bondevik towards KrF and Ropstad
– I think we will be able to overcome the limit of the barrier. We are in a government that is popular and capable of governing and that meets the crisis we are in, says Ropstad and continues:
– We are the Party of the Christian Democratic Center. We are in a center-right government, which can work together in both directions. We are the party of the natural center, and we must be.
– Must pass
Ropstad admits, however, that it will be difficult for Erna Solberg to continue as prime minister if KrF fails to cross the 4 percent equalizing term limit.
If we want to secure re-election, it is important that KrF crosses the threshold. Several factors will come into play, but my main job will be to find our good solutions, he says.
Created the KrF shock – then came the turning point
– Has someone surprised you going to the Center?
– I don’t think I should start commenting on it. I wish they would choose to use their commitment to KrF and of course I respect the fact that it is possible to choose differently.
– Is this an expression that the harrowing choice of leadership has led to the division of the party in KrF?
– No, I don’t really experience it. I feel that the party is united. We just had a national board meeting and there was a good atmosphere and pride so we made a big breakthrough.
This is how Hareide became a minister
Eriksen homeless
Dagrun Eriksen says in the interview with Aftenposten that she has been frustrated that the government has not found a better solution for the Moria refugees, saying: “This is not the Norway I like.”
– Strange that someone honestly, and at the cost of many other things, is uncompromising when it comes to helping vulnerable children. I find this downtown, he says.
The center is run by former Labor councilor and lawyer Geir Lippestad. On September 29, he launched an attempt to establish a new political party. Currently there is only one association. To become a party, you must collect 5,000 signatures before the New Year.
– We reached about 3,000 in five weeks. Now we have six weeks to reach 5000. We will manage it, says Lippestad to Aftenposten.
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Sentrum’s co-founders include Kristin Walstad, who was until recently Deputy Director of Viken KrF; Dag Sele, who has been a county leader in Hordaland KrF and a member of the central board; and Irene Solli, who has been the second deputy director of Agder KrF.
Former KrF leader Odd Anders With and Christian Democratic network leader Drivkraft Tore Christiansen have also joined the party. The same goes for former deputy MDG leader Hilde Opoku.
