Miljøpartiet De Rødgrønne – VG

It is reported that the Green Party will choose between a 66-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman. Online, yes. On Thursday, Oslo MDG will decide who gets second place on the Storting’s list after Lan Marie Berg.

After pitching his candidacy, retiring, and then pitching in again, Rasmus Hansson is ready for battle against Hulda Holtvedt. The question obviously doesn’t shrug. Both have mobilized strongly and, with 500 digital participants, it will be the largest ODM meeting in history.

Although party members insist that choosing between two talented candidates is a matter of luxury, there is little doubt that the two represent the outer edges of the party in terms of profile. And it’s not just about age. It’s also about what kind of party the MDGs should be.

Biologist Rasmus Hansson, 66, has a past as an environmental bureaucrat, Alta protester, WWF secretary general, and polar bear expert. He was the party’s first parliamentary representative and takes much of the credit for the party’s national political advancement.

No one who has seen 21-year-old Hulda Holtvedt in a debate has doubts that she is a great talent. She is a clear voice for an impatient young generation inspired by Greta Thunberg who puts the weather first. Today she is a spokesperson for Green Youth and has also met as a deputy at the Storting.

The question is how much the party should target young urban environmental voters, who are also appealed to by Lan Marie Berg and Une Bastholm. With his diverse background and messy style, Hansson is a candidate who can expand the party in both age and profile. It is perceived as a straw for those who fear that the party is too pointed and narrow. At the same time, there is little doubt that the success of the MDGs in recent years has come among young and educated voters in big cities.

But also this week’s big non-newsworthy news about choosing the MDG path divides the two. For Hansson, the independence of the block has been part of his project. Holtvedt wants to cooperate with the left and has declared that he “does not like conservatives.”

This weekend, the national board will decide whether the party will choose a side before the elections. A unanimous central government has already signaled that they want a government with the Labor Party and the Socialist People’s Party. In many ways, it is not surprising. The MDGs mainly vote with SV and Rødt in the Storting and often cooperate with the red greens of the municipalities. His voters don’t like the right wing either.

However, it is still controversial. Some believe that the MDGs give away a bargaining chip before elections. Others believe that the party lends its environmental credibility to the left, and that it is by no means a fact that a Labor government dominated by the Socialist Party will pursue a better environmental policy than the bourgeois one.

But it’s also about the life of the party. Although party strategists insist this is only a limited-time road election, it shakes up the bloc’s independence. You can’t be a bit independent of the block. It will quickly establish guidelines on how the party is perceived, what kind of politics they develop and how they behave.

The developments in the European sister parties illustrate this. The Greens in Germany have managed to preserve the independence of the bloc, while the Swedish Green Party is perceived today as a party in support of the Social Democrats.

The risk of a clear side choice is being perceived as an SV light and a tail for the Labor Party. Then one can repel the voters and lose credibility that the weather is really the most important thing. On the other hand, they can be perceived as unclear on the issue of government.

At the same time, it’s not so unnatural that many in the MDGs don’t like conservatives after nearly eight years in government. Especially when they have collaborated or depend on the support of FRP. The FRP is the only party that the MDGs have vetoed. It is also in the nature of an opposition party to be critical of those in power.

If it was the Labor Party that had ruled for the past eight years, would the MDGs be equally dissatisfied? That, of course, is a hypothetical question.

When the MDGs, after all the sun marks, choose to target a red-green government with the Social Democrats and the Labor Party, they overlook the single most important ingredient for that to happen. The Center Party is the only party that takes voters from the bourgeois side and the safest card for a red-green election winner. At the same time, Sp has developed in a direction away from the MDGs, although there is never so much rhetoric separating them.

The MDGs have been stable above the threshold in the last year, but have a downward trend in measurements. Last week, they experienced the misfortune of being ignored by the Center Party in Oslo’s e-bike paradise, and this week, for the first time in a long time, they measured themselves below the barrier limit. It seems a bit on a par with the position that Sp has conquered.

But hope is known to be green. Red Green.