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The sinking of FRP leader Jon Helgheim to safety on the party’s Buskerud list has sent shockwaves through the party apparatus. County team election campaign leader and veteran Ulf Erik Knudsen tells Drammens Tidende (DT) he is resigning.
– I’m disappointed, Knudsen tells Dagbladet.
For DT, the leader of the outgoing electoral campaign assures that he has received “many consultations” throughout the day, which are unanimously negative to Wold’s nomination.
– This is a tragedy for both Buskerud Frp and Norway that a talent like Jon Helgheim did not reach, he tells the newspaper.
PARTIVETERAN: Ulf Erik Knudsen (no. 2 fh) has a long career at the FRP and previously served on the Storting’s constitution and control committee. Here from a meeting in 2011. Photo: Berit Roald / NTB
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Front figure
Helgheim, which is based in the Drammens area, has risen in recent years among the A-list celebrities on the FRP as a clear, offensive, and sometimes controversial immigration policy spokesperson.
But out of nowhere he chose the county party [stortingskretsene er fremdeles inndelt etter de gamle fylkene] during the nomination meeting, party veteran and second vice president of the Storting, Morten Wold, who is based in Vikersund, higher up in the former county.
Knudsen explains that his resignation follows logically from the rejection of Helgheim, who lost by 17-23 votes.
– We work on a voluntary basis, basically for a candidate that everyone thought would win. Now it’s natural for Morten Wold to bring in his people, he tells Dagbladet.
– City to country
Knudsen won’t go into detail about what’s behind the Helgheim clash, other than that it is “city versus land.”
– Drammen wanted Helgheim, while Wold was proposed from one of the rural municipalities, he says.
The former parliamentary representative emphasizes that Drammen now has more than 100,000 inhabitants, after the recent municipal expansion, and that “city candidate” Helgheim therefore has a large proportion of Buskerud FRP voters behind him.
Knudsen will not comment on how Morten Wold will do a good job for the constituency, refraining from analyzing where Buskerud Frp is headed now.
– You can ask Morten Wold about that, he says.
OTHER: Morten Wold, currently the second vice president of the Storting, ranked first on the list of nominations. Photo: The Storting
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– sad
Throughout the day, statements of support have reached Helgheim via its Facebook page. He himself has not been contacted, but expresses himself in diplomatic terms in the same place:
“Today I lost the choice for the first place on the Frp list in Buskerud. The FRP delegates in Buskerud did not want me in the Storting in the next term because they were not satisfied with the seats on the list. This is sometimes politics. […] It feels sad that it won’t be more, but that’s the way it is, ”he writes.
FRP Central has so far not taken sides in the local struggle. Through DT, leader Siv Jensen Wold congratulates the first place in the nomination list and emphasizes that both he and the opposing candidate “have done a good job for the party for several years.”
– Jon has gone to great lengths for Frp, especially in outlining our closed and fair immigration policy. I hope to continue cooperating with him at the Storting and at the central board, Jensen tells the newspaper.
– I am happy and grateful for the support. Hoping to campaign, Wold tells TV 2.
