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GARDERMOEN (VG) The national meeting of the Liberal Party has elected Education Minister Guri Melby (39) as the third female leader of the party. With her as deputy leaders, he gets former competitors Abid Raja and Sveinung Rotevatn.
– Thanks a lot for the trust. I am completely excited. I am very sorry that I cannot give a single hug. This is great and I am very happy, says Guri Melby in a shaky voice.
He receives standing ovations after the unanimous election of leadership and waves a large bouquet of sunflowers to the national gathering.
– I am happy for the support and encouragement I received to ask. It has been no secret that I have had doubts. It’s about my children, if I can spend that much time on this here. But it is precisely for them that I do this here, says Melby and continues:
– I have been with the Liberal Party for 21 years, it is more than an average marriage.
NEW LEADERSHIP TRIO: Abid Raja, Guri Melby and Sveinung Rotevatn. Photo: Geir Olsen
It was not established in the first round.
She was unanimously nominated as chair of the nominating committee, with Climate and Environment Minister Sveinung Rotevatn as First Vice President and Culture Minister Abid Raja as Second Vice President. All three were elected by acclamation, as there were no other proposals for leaders or deputies.
Since last fall, the demand from the rank and file has been clear and strong: the local Liberal Party team has demanded renewal in the trio of leaders.
Now the battle for leadership that has divided the party is over, for now. For a long time it was Rotevatn and Raja who fought for the top spot, but Melby beat them at the finish line.
She was not part of the recommendation for a new trio of leaders in March, when the nominating committee unanimously recommended a new term of leadership for Trine Skei Grande, with Rotevatn and Raja as deputy leaders in first and second place. A few days later, Grande announced that she would resign as leader.
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– This will be a team for the future. We have to get up. Only a collaborative, solution-oriented management team can do it. We hope you do the best you can together. I say it bluntly: don’t let us down! Election committee leader Per A. Thorbjørnsen said before the election.
Boasted of the nominated leader:
– Guri Melby is Minister of Education. She has gained solid leadership experience after 20 years in politics. If there is anyone who knows the needs of both districts and large cities, it is her,
– A visionary politician. Guri’s appeal is growing. She has taken over Norway and the absolutely fantastic media. She is the leader of the Liberal Party for the future.
Melby will give a longer speech at the national meeting at 3.30pm on Sunday.
GURI MALLA !: Outgoing leader Trine Skei Grande congratulates incoming leader Guri Melby with a friendly elbow salute with the crown. Photo: Geir Olsen
– Do not let us down
Thorbjørnsen emphasized that the management trio will function as a team:
– If Melby, Rotevatn and Raja are elected, they will be the most competent and well-known leadership trio that Norwegian politics can find today, election committee leader Thorbjørnsen said ahead of the elections.
Thorbjørnsen also spoke warmly about the outgoing trio of leaders, Trine Skei Grande, Ola Elvestuen and Terje Breivik.
– Our attitude means that a trio of leaders who have done a fantastic job for the Liberal Party are now being replaced. Now new forces are taking over. Trine, Ola and Terje, you have been role models for the three who will now take over, said the chairman of the nominating committee, adding:
– You’ve been so delightfully unpopular. You have been great leaders in the history of the Liberal Party. But it is a time for everything.
