Aps party secretary warns review of warning threat in dispute between two of the party’s Trøndelag leaders

– Threats of possible warnings should not be used as an argument in an electoral committee, says the party secretary of the party. On Sunday afternoon, there were no warnings against the new leader of Trøndelag Ap.

The Labor Party has two parliamentary representatives from Nord-Trøndelag, Ingvild Kjerkol and Arild Grande. At the county’s annual meeting in the Trøndelag Labor Party this weekend, each had their lead role in what appeared to be an open personal dispute between them.

– We want a review of what happened, says party secretary Kjersti Stenseng. Internally at the party, there is a need for a “cleanup conversation.”

Kjerkol won, Grande lost

Kjerkol emerged victorious from the fight by being chosen as the county’s new party leader, contrary to the recommendation of the nominating committee, which was led by Grande.

Prior to the recommendation of the nominating committee, Kjerkol was mentioned as the favorite to assume the leadership position. But the nominating committee nominated Marit Bjerkås instead.

The reason why the nominating committee, led by Arild Grande, did not nominate Kjerkol in the first place, Grande himself revealed from the annual meeting rostrum.

Grande: I can’t get behind Kjerkol

– I can be completely open and honest when I said in the electoral committee that I cannot support a proposal with Ingvild Kjerkol as the leader. I have personal reasons for that, Grande said and continued:

– And I offered to the nominating committee, since there were actually several who wanted to promote proposals for Ingvild Kjerkol, that if the committee insisted on promoting proposals for Kjerkol as leader, I could resign as leader.

He was accused of harassment

It leaked from the nominating committee work that Grande had told the committee about an SMS she had received. According to Adressa, it had the following wording:

Ingvild ??? You can’t kick Trond out and then replace him with someone who’s been harassing Stooort for years!

It was suggested that there might be a warning against Kjerkol, if she was elected.

– I cannot accept this, Kjerkol said from the rostrum at the annual meeting on the nomination committee process. She believed that Grande had broken all electoral processes and notification routines.

Labor Party sources tell Aftenposten that the conflict between them has to do with the handling of a personnel case in Trøndelag. This shouldn’t have anything to do with metoo.

No alerts were received

Party Secretary Stenseng said in an SMS to Aftenposten on Sunday afternoon that “we have not received any notification against Kjerkol” and continues as follows:

– If there are complaints or incidents that need to be reported, I hope it will be done so that we can follow up properly and in line with our guidelines.

She emphasizes that threats of potential warnings should not be used as an argument in a nominating committee.

– If rumors of warnings are used as a basis in such processes, there is a bad organizational culture and it undermines this important institute, he says.

She says that’s why she wants a review.

Large: We take this internally

Kjerkol tells Aftenposten that it is “completely natural for there to be a round with the party office” as Grande has “violated our statutes on how to handle an advertisement.”

– But I don’t have any role in that round, she says.

Regarding the relationship with Grande, he says that they have never been close friends, but that they had a completely normal relationship as colleagues. He adds that he has not lived in Nord-Trøndelag due to his family in Oslo and Sørlandet, while she has lived in Nord-Trøndelag.

Aftenposten has not spoken with Grande other than via SMS.

– We take this internally in the party in a centralized way, he writes. It will not respond if you personally plan to send any notices