Generation Guri – Expression

Tonight has the job of “someone wants to hurt themselves so much.”

Guri Melby (39) is elected after all the sun marks for the new party leader of the Liberal Party. With her at the helm, he gets the main fighters Sveinung Rotevatn (33) and Abid Raja.

With this, the Liberal Party is experiencing an important generational change.

When voters voiced their opinion in 2017, Abid Raja (now 44 years old) was elected as the youngest of eight MPs. Today he becomes the eldest of the trio of party leaders.

This weekend, the Liberal Party says yes to the EU. Since the split at Røros in 1972, European politics has never been easy in the Liberal Party. There have been several rematches and attempts at redirection.

Although it has little to say in practical politics, it is symbolically important that the Liberal Party turn now. Not least for self-esteem. Many will say that the decision is overdue. Some thought it would happen in 2009. The year Sveinung Rotevatn took a seat in the leadership of the Young Left, the Liberal Party last said no, with a majority of 12 votes. Now the party is changing, most likely.

There it also marks a generational change.

The newly elected leadership is completely united and is positive in the case of the EU, and is united in the question of seeking the cooperation of the bourgeois side. Unlike the trio of leaders who are thanked.

The point of balance

The new left leadership has little time to balance the Liberal Party politically.

The proposed party program is just around the corner. The Storting’s election is less than a year ahead of schedule and the barrier limit, as usual, is threatening. Management faces some dilemmas:

• The Liberal Party may lose by being seen as a Conservative Light, but the leadership will be perceived as safe on the bourgeois side.
• The Liberal Party may lose its appearance as a liberal seminary with powerful answers to theoretical questions, but it must preserve its liberal identity.
• The Liberal Party may lose out by not having a good enough environmental policy, but at the same time it will be something different from the MDGs.

Somewhere between the conservatives, the young left and the ODMs, Guri Melby must place her left. You have to find the middle ground.

Also, many will expect a young and urban approach to the party, others fear to forget about the neighborhoods. Others believe that it is not a contradiction for the Liberal Party:

If you look at who the Liberal Party can capture in the districts, it is precisely the most urban, academic and liberal-minded entrepreneurs in the districts.

The Liberal Party’s political compass almost always hits the opposite of its Sp and Frp. The Liberal Party must be able to build pride and self-confidence around that.

The voters that the Liberal Party needs to persuade to overcome the boundary of the barrier are likely to be easier to find among young people in cities considering the MDGs than among those considering the Center Party in districts.

Guri Melby must be unifying, must dare to make some decisions. It will have to mean an opportunity to disappoint some of those who defend and applaud her tonight.

In the hall of the National Assembly there is a great desire for renewal. And there are expectations for the generational change.

The signals from the program committee are to orient the Liberal Party closer to the center of fiscal policy and further away from KrF in value policy. The program is very narrow in scope and focuses on fundamental issues.

Expanding the party is more about reaching new groups of voters, the message and understanding of what is important to the Liberal Party is more limited. That is, more focused.

There are no downsides, to say the least, and there are interesting signs.

Smaller tax cuts than conservatives (and liberals too after eight red-green years). Less agreement with KrF on matters of value (the abortion limit and active euthanasia will be in the main show discussion this weekend). At the same time, clearly on the bourgeois side.

This can give the Liberal Party the space, relevance and platform they need in Norwegian politics.

The last was going to be the first

Guri Melby was nominated after a leadership struggle unparalleled in Norwegian political history.

In the middle of their joint vacation, Melby sat at home on the couch with one arm bandaged after a fall in the woods and read “Nothing with those who drown.”

It was the summer holidays that he had to decide whether he wanted to lead the Liberal Party or not.

She became the unifying candidate that allowed the nominating committee to take a unanimous position in what had long been seen as a duel between Sveinung Rotevatn and Abid Raja.

She had seriously broken the political sound barrier after leading Skole-Norge through the Korona shutdown as a popular Minister of Education.

In the Liberal Party, many have long seen that she has what it takes to be the top politician. Organizational, political and professional. It is above all an educational policy and knows the sector inside and out. At the same time, she, like the Liberal Party, is also concerned about the climate and the environment. As the chair of the program committee for two rounds, she also knows the breadth of the Liberal Party’s politics. As a former city councilor and minister, she has management experience. In addition, she has parliamentary experience.

Now she, Raja and Rotevatn will keep their heads above the water and Venstre above the edge of the barrier.

It appears that both the three and the party as a whole have left the battle for leadership behind. It’s crucial.

Melby in particular and the leadership in general need the legitimacy that the party can give them. The Liberal Party depends on concentration and the party appearing as a team. The group must love Melby well, if they love themselves well.

Melby must above all show and be a willingness to renew himself at the party. This was the most important match between those who were in the various trenches of Raja and Rotevatn before the summer – they thought they had to shake it up a bit at the after-party to Trine Skei Grande. The desire for renewal and rejuvenation was a desire beyond new faces.

The new trio of leaders must deliver.

The most important thing for the Liberal Party is not who leads the party or what policy the party has. It is exceeding the bar.

If the Liberal Party goes headlong over the limit of the barrier.

About the floats to Melby’s left.

It will come out on election night next year.