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A fairytale

At Soria Moria?




(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)

There were two types of people at SV's election vigil last Monday. One group was primarily pleased that there was a red-green majority and a change of government. "We lost the battle, but won the war," they said.

The second type provided, first and foremost, a marked decline for SV. “We lost the battle, and now the war begins," so they.

Of course, there was only one unanimous and triumphant jubilant mass at the Labor Party election watch that naturally followed the strong election.

It is no secret that there will be a hard grip on the government negotiations on Soria Moria. "Kjøttvekta", as it is called, certainly plays a role in such cases, and the Labor Party is now about three times as large as SV. The Center Party, for its part, has made a good choice and can also count on collecting in the negotiations.

But at the same time, it is enough that a wounded party can have a lot of impact. The danger of internal wear and tear in SV that threatens the entire government project is something Jens Stoltenberg and Åslaug Haga must take into account.

Historical choice

As many have pointed out, this is a historic choice, not least for SV's part. In doing so, the party has come out of 30 years in opposition. If one looks up a bit, this is one of the most important changes in the political landscape in the 2005 elections. SF was the party for those who could not sacrifice a tinge of political, and especially foreign policy, conviction to win power and positions. SV has stood in this tradition, but now the party has already slipped closer to the Ap through a weak election campaign. However, this has also been a maturation process that has finally reflected the will to seek influence over the development of society. The wisest thing is to wait for judgment.

The country also gets a majority government for the first time in many years. Stability is of course a good thing in political life, but the potential for influence from civil society and broad debate before political decisions are made can suffer because more will be decided internally in the government and not in the Storting.

If you hold on to such an overall perspective, you also see another and very unpleasant development: FrP made its best choice ever. The party has stolen many voters from KrF and the Conservatives, and continues its march towards parliamentary unity and political position. In the last decade, the party's support has doubled, and this is now a strong factor in Norwegian politics – and it has come to stay. Hagen always thinks at least four years ahead, and there is a danger, as some have pointed out, that the mentioned development will not give in to this, but manifest itself as a powerful backlash for the left and a new bourgeois gathering where also FrP is with in 2009.

Ready for power?

This is one of the biggest dilemmas of politics, and especially of the left, at the moment – both here in the country and in the rest of Europe, as in Germany, where there will be elections on Sunday: How should the relationship between the political system that is becoming increasingly specialized and voters improve so that the temptation of right-wing populist protest parties becomes less? How the left in Norway and a red-green government will solve this must be one of the most important topics of discussion in the coming months.

When everyday life begins in the new government, one will quickly notice that the Labor Party has the drawer full of concrete proposals and reports to the Storting that the party can retrieve in one go and thus control the agenda in the new government. SP and SV can sit and tinker with Labor Party policy for four years.

At SV's election vigil last Monday, one could ask: "Is SV ready for this, for government power and a role where preparations and prerequisites that have been given relatively little attention are a requirement?" And from half you could get the following clear answers a little later in the evening, as it became easier to be honest: "No!"

But you could also get an equally crystal clear "yes!" from the other half of the assembly. For the sake of the government, it is important that the latter are right.

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