– Hit me in the heart – VG

– When they sent me the party platform, it hit me in the heart. I got very involved and thought this is what I want: a party that works for inclusion and diversity against exclusion, with a clear climate and environmental profile, John Harald Bondevik tells VG on Wednesday.

But his father, Kjell Magne Bondevik, has already distanced himself from the new party.

“I do not support the formation of parties. I am afraid that this will divide forces that agree on a lot,” writes the former prime minister and leader of KrF in an SMS to VG.

Increasingly weak ties

John Harald Bondevik has never been in a trusted position at KrF, which had something to do with his father’s high-profile position. But he has been a member for several years.

He tells VG about the increasingly weak ties with KrF over a long period:

– It started several years ago. I thought KrF had too weak a climate and environmental profile. Then came the battle for K to return to the KRLE topic. For me, it was more of a struggle for symbols than for content in politics. Then of course it was the choice of leadership that I thought went wrong, and the choice of KrF to enter a government with Frp. So at some point I stopped paying the KrF membership fee.

It comes from various parties

Bondevik believes that the expression of many KrF members has also changed:

– I think many in KrF want to be inclusive. But my impression is that they are afraid to repel the central conservative voters, and therefore the statements become more diffuse. This means that politics is not as inclusive as it should be, he says.

John Harald Bondevik tells VG that he currently has the role of a board member.

– Now it will be everyone’s responsibility to try to get 5,000 signatures and get the new party to formally register.

– What is it about the Center’s policy that you think should involve people?

– There are classic values ​​of the center that may be similar to those of the other parties of the center, but I think we can adopt them more widely. There are already people with us with backgrounds from many different parties. Already last night, two from SV made contact. We’ve also heard from people with backgrounds in the Conservative Party.

On Wednesday morning, former KrF Deputy Director Odd Anders With informed VG that he will be joining the Sentrum party.

Aiming at Støre

– Why are you already singling out Labor leader Jonas Gahr Støre as a candidate for prime minister?

– Because we do not want a government that depends on the FRP, nor do we want parties on the other side. But this is not blocked. We want to get where we have the greatest impact. In the long term, the dream is that a new city center government can emerge. I think most voters want politics to be as central as possible, says John Harald Bondevik.

– Maximum two percent

– This will be another example of a party failure.

This is what the editor of the Christian newspaper Dagen, Vebjørn Selbekk, tells VG.

– There are many examples of start-up of new parties in recent years, and then the support from zero will be from one to a maximum of two percent, for example the Alliance and the Liberals. The center will have the same kind of destination, he says.

The new deputy leader of the Liberal Party, Sveinung Rotevatn, says he does not find anything new on the platform of Geir Lippestad and the new Sentrum party of the KrF separatists.

– There are many existing parties that say they want Jonas Gahr Støre as prime minister and do not want to specifically answer whether they will accept more refugees. Rotevatn tells VG.

Can tilt KrF below barrier limit

Selbekk considers Sentrum unrealistic to have a seat in the Storting

– It is completely out of any realism. The only political influence they will have is that they can tip the KrF below the threshold. They can come forward with a few votes, he says.

Selbekk believes that the KrF situation is now the “wedge”.

– Now they are being challenged by two parties, which are based on criticizing them. The Center Party criticizes KrF for going too far to the right and from the other side of the Christian Party, which criticizes them for being too far to the left, says Selbekk.

And add:

– Creates an additional problem for KrF, which is already in a difficult situation, he says.

– Did the new party come out of nowhere?

– Not completely. There have been murmurs about the formation of a new party after the left wing in KrF was defeated in 2018. Then the Drivkraft network was also formed, behind which are several dissatisfied members of Krf, says Selbekk.