Oslo FRP leader Geir Ugland Jacobsen excluded from party – VG

About two weeks ago, Oslo Frp said they were considering the exclusion of the county leader, Geir Ugland Jacobsen, after several conflicts and riots in the party. Subsequently, the Organizing Committee of Frp opened an exclusion case against the leader.

After the central board meeting in Frp tonight, it is clear that Ugland Jacobsen is now excluded from the party. In addition, Oslo Frp will also be closed.

– Now the central board has made the decision that the undersigned should be excluded from the party, says Ugland Jacobsen at a press conference on Wednesday night.

– I will say a little about the background of my case, which then obviously has been the tip of the iceberg, and where there has been general discontent with the whole of Oslo Frp.

Ugland Jacobsen says that he assumes the main motivation is political.

– The undersigned has had some statements in the media that, in themselves, can hardly be seen as grounds for exclusion. But that, along with many other things, means that it has later become a matter of signing by the Organizing Committee.

He further states that he does not know the reasons for the exclusion.

– I react more to the fact that the county team is now closed. The ceiling height at the party is now practically non-existent, says Ugland Jacobsen.

– This that has happened tonight is quite sensational, adds.

Considering joining a new party

He fears that the decision will provoke reactions.

– I am afraid it will be interpreted in a very negative way. My impression, having had a lot of contact with voters and shop stewards over the past year, is that the vast majority are in the FRP because we put Norway first and because we want to prioritize the Storting’s decisions based on the simple rule that it should be beneficial. for Norway and the Norwegian people.

While Ugland Jacobsen is at the press conference, he looks at his mobile phone and says a lot of messages of support are coming through.

Furthermore, he says he has no personal antipathies against Siv Jensen, and that exclusion is part of the game. He also adds that he will now consider joining another party.

– I had no intention of creating a campaign against Siv, it just happened. My statement this summer was interpreted like this, and then there was a backlash from shop stewards and Siv Jensen, he says.

Different directions

This summer he stormed Ugland Jacobsen, after he, in a Finansavisen interview, questioned Siv Jensen as one of the leading candidates for the Storting. He also won support in the county party for a resolution to make the FRP a “patriotic beacon.”

– I want Norway first, and it is obvious that many want it. It is obvious that Siv has not been extreme in any direction. She has been bonding, and now there is a clear need to care for Norway. We clearly see that the pressure can be increased significantly, he told the newspaper this summer.

This led to a call in various county councils to call Siv Jensen, and several county councils in Frp asked the central board to consider closing Oslo Frp.

– When Oslo Frp externally faces a different political direction than the one decided by the national assembly, Oslo Frp contributes to a very unnecessary division in the party, it was said in the appeal.

Siv Jensen has a clear message for those who want the FRP to become a national conservative party: they can find something else to do.

– There are those who have wanted it differently. Must be like this. But a large and emphatic majority have put their foot down and said what we should be and what we should not be. So you have to deal with it if you want to be a member of the Progress Party, he told NTB on Wednesday morning.

The Progress Party describes itself as a liberal popular party, something the party’s national assembly has endorsed.

Statements about Siv Jensen

Several sources with in-depth knowledge of the process at Frp, which was to decide the future of Ugland Jacobsen, previously informed VG that the matter was already a topic at the central board meeting in November.

There, the Organizing Committee presented reports they had received from various quarters on Ugland Jacobsen’s controversial statements and informed the party leadership that they would consider them.

The committee’s task is to assess whether members violate the FRP’s articles of association and party principles. The committee is chaired by central board member Alf Erik Andersen.

According to a document that will come out of the Organizing Committee that has been given access to Dagsavisen, it was the county leader’s statements about Siv Jensen that motivated the case against him:

“First, if your public statements are of such a nature that they contribute to damaging the reputation of the party and / or party members in such a way that it is contrary to party regulations.

Second, if your statements have been based on decisions of the county council in accordance with party statutes and guidelines, or if you, in your role as county leader, have exceeded the powers of the county leader. county, “stated in the indictment.

He was also accused of attempting to weaken the party leadership and “shift the party organization’s focus from constructive political and organizational work, to negative personal focus and uncertainty around the party’s elected leaders (…),” according to Dagsavisen.