The important thing in choosing 9. September is not the Labor Party vs. the Right – but rather whether one prefers the SV or the Progress Party in government.
(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
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Decisive. With just over two months left for the parliamentary election 9. September is no wonder that the main emphasis of election campaign coverage is on the Prime Minister's post:
Will it be the right-wing leader Erna Solberg or, almost against presumption right now, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg (Ap) who will lead the Norwegian government from 2013 to 2017?
Exactly that choice, we must say, is not one of the simplest: As "Climate Selection 2013" has shown, Ap, Right and Frp are the parties that are most similar, or equally bad, in climate issues. In other key issues – from asylum policy to war policy to international alliance and strategy policy – Ap and Høyre, personified with Stoltenberg and Solberg, seem to be more equal than different. Especially if you compare these two to smaller parties like SV, the Greens and the Left.
So, a more important question than the more or less major divide between today's Ap and today's Right is who to ally with to gain government power after 9 September. And that's when the huge differences arise: For today's Ap has, if nothing else, an SV, under the leadership of Audun Lysbakken, who even holds a secretary of state such as Pål Lønseth a little in the reins and an Ola Borten Moe a little further away from the oil barrels than he prefers. would have been.
But is Solberg right on the other hand? She cannot depend on KrF and Venstre, as Ap has committed to SV and Sp now for the past eight years. Rather, her path to power, as it now appears, is only through Frp. And it will be with a Frpleder Siv Jensen who can have 15-22 per cent support – the double or triple of what SV and Sp, or KrF and Left, have together.
value choice
That is why Lysbakken pointed out something important when he and the party convened a press conference before the summer and the ensuing election campaign: “The election this fall is about SV or Frp to have a hand on the wheel of the governing of Norway. It is a fundamental value choice, and the thought of the power of Frp scares me, "the SV leader said.
And he should not be alone. In international surveys, Frp has just been highlighted as a leading front in the new right-wing populist wave that is sweeping across Europe. Like other European defense organizations, FRP is unlike any other, including itself yesterday. But the clear common feature is precisely this: the obscurity. That secures them power.
At such a moment, it is important to have a party that stands for financial tax, which can ensure increased joint distribution and stronger community solutions. And it is important with a strong environmental election campaign for continued oil-free Lofoten, Vesterålen and Senja and a strong commitment to trains and public transport.
For what is the alternative to today's red-green government, where the SV has no other hand on the electric car steering wheel? Yes: “The alternative to more welfare and the environment with the SV is a government with Frp that takes Norway in the opposite direction. The idea of Frp ruling the country scares me.
The idea that Frp's values should characterize Norwegian foreign policy, environmental policy, immigration policy and distribution policy is frightening, ”as the SV leader stated.
Finance Jensen
Lysbakken does not believe that half of Norway's population wants Frp in government. And it can probably vote.
But the problem is that the road to power for Frp goes through their best friends in the Right, who are the country's largest and most popular at the moment. And so Norway can become world-renowned for getting a right-wing populist like Jensen to the finance minister – even though 60-70 percent of the population seems to be opposed to it. That's how it is. And so it can be.
Then it's not just about voting on 9 September. This is what SU leader Andreas Halse has pointed out in Ny Tid's columns: It is better to sit at home on election day than to vote FRP into government. There is no obligation to vote. But it is wise to vote wisely. That is, with the heart and the mind. ■
(This is an excerpt from Ny Tid's weekly magazine 28.06.2013. Read the whole thing by buying Ny Tid in newspaper retailers all over the country, or by subscribing to Ny Tid -click here. Subscribers receive previous editions free of charge as PDF.)