Several right-wing tops can be broken – VG

This fall’s nominations have offered both surprises and lemons, for those who had taken it for granted that the Storting was where they would be for the next four years. In the three northernmost counties, all Conservative MPs were rejected and several politicians suffered the same fate in other parts of the country.

FRP splits after major profiles were shot. Åshild Bruun-Gundersen lost at Aust-Agder, and Jon Engen-Helgheim was, to everyone’s surprise, slaughtered in some kind of uprising of the local district in Buskerud. It’s certainly even better at one dram per hour than three top Drammen candidates.

After pitching his comeback from the day he left, Ketil Solvik-Olsen decided to resign just before the nomination meeting at Rogaland gave him a golden ticket back to national politics.

On Monday, the trip reached Oslo Høyre. They have a luxury problem, but there are also known problems. Sometimes you have to look closely to fill the party lists with good and motivated people. In the Conservatives in Oslo, they can literally elect candidates.

The nominating committee made it easy for themselves, but much worse for those who will vote, when they pitted Stefan Heggelund and Michael Tetzschner against each other.

Because although many now express that they would like to have both candidates on the list, it is not so easy to see who will come out then. Ministers Ine Eriksen Søreide and Nikolai Astrup describe themselves. As the leader of the Oslo Conservatives, Heidi Nordby Lunde is the same. Mudassar Kapur has been given the important job as a fiscal policy spokesperson and brings much-needed diversity to a parliamentary group that can easily be called a dazzling target. Nobody wants to challenge hard-working talent Mathilde Tybring-Gjedde.

If someone doesn’t try, it is Stefan Heggelund or Michael Tetzschner who should come out. Heggelund has long been considered one of the party’s big stars. Principle, debatable, and with a nose for interesting topics. It also did very well in the referendum among the members. He has opened up to challenge Kapur at the nomination meeting.

At 66, Tetzschner would have been a foal across the pond, but in Norwegian politics he ranks among the oldest in the Storting and is called both old and veteran. Few attract more than he the right-wing voter with hats, galoshes and Finansavisen under his arm. Although many think he can be a hassle in detail-oriented meetings, he is also recognized as extremely principled, thorough, and almost the only one in the party who dares to speak up Erna Solberg in front.

But if anything has proven this fall, it’s that anything can happen.

Election researcher Bernt Aardal asks in Aftenposten if the digital nomination meetings have facilitated the rejection of party leaders. Voting from the kitchen table can make it easier to rebel against the law and vote for your own head and heart.

It doesn’t seem completely unlikely. Many of us get tougher from a distance, armed with wifi and a keyboard. It’s always easier to give someone a bad message when you don’t have to look them in the eye. Although the conclusion is premature, there is little doubt that it is more difficult for politicians to have control over what moves in the parties. The meeting places have disappeared. The dialogue on Facebook is much more fleeting than having a beer together in Lorry, Krambua or Nordlendingen.

Campaigns on social media can also become more important.

Last week challenger Kamzy Gunaratnam scored a clear victory against the nominated favorite, Zaineb Al-Samarai, after a dramatic nomination meeting in the Oslo Labor Party. The repercussions were immediate. Dagens Næringsliv has written about three warnings against Gunaratnam, which concern the abuse of power in internal party networks and the freezing of party colleagues. The warnings have been processed in the party organization without any breach being concluded.

The chair of the nominating committee, Tone Tellevik Dahl, told Aftenposten that this year’s nomination process differs from previous processes. This applies both to the tone of the debate on social media and to the fact that parts of the debate were conducted in closed groups.

In the Liberal Party, it has been unusually lighthearted so far, but the most exciting nomination match has taken the promised 2021. In Hordaland, the committee is divided over whether they want Sveinung Rotevatn or Terje Breivik first. Breivik had to resign recently as deputy leader, but the somewhat anonymous and highly respected Westerner wants to continue in the Storting.

Rotevatn is one of the most important profiles in the Liberal Party and came dangerously close to becoming the new leader of the party. Despite being vice president, his days on the main stage of national politics may come to an end if the government is not re-elected. But for Rotevatn, it is not enough to emerge victorious from the nomination. It also has a barrier limit for climbing.

It is not good to say what is the hardest thing to win: the voters or the party.