Sigve Saman Zandi (20) and Ali Al-Mualm (21) are students at Kongsbakken upper secondary school in Tromsø. They want a split, even though they admit that they have not really noticed any difference in the time Troms and Finnmark have been together.
– I think that politicians can lose some focus when they have to think about both Troms and Finnmark, says Al-Mualm.
– But for me as a student, it has not changed anything.
Saman Zandi, for his part, cares most about the name that was chosen when the counties were merged.
– Its so boring. It sounds like two counties merged. What happened with Mordor and the other proposals? It would have been a lot more fun, he says.
Tanja Elina Lund-Lyngmo and her daughter live in Alta. They would much rather the money be spent on the population, than on division.
Photo: julie groseth / nrk
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Will spend the money locally
Tanja Elina Lund-Lyngmo (39) in Alta, on the other hand, is quite clear that she wants the county to remain as it is today.
She would much rather spend the money on other things, like pools, better roads, better schools. Raise nurse salaries. Mental Health.
– I would rather that the money that is intended to be spent on reversal should go to county municipal services, says Lund-Lyngmo.
– It amazes me that no one is critical that all the money should be spent on this. It seems that there is a high political game behind it, at any cost. But the money? We do not have them, says Lund-Lyngmo.
Crystal clear answer
After several years of arguing with Erna Solberg’s government over whether Troms and Finnmark should be one or two counties, one can soon put a preliminary sentence.
For the new Støre government has opened up for everyone who got married involuntarily, can now be divorced voluntarily. In a few weeks, it will be decided whether there is a majority in the counties to be divided or to stay together as today.
NRK
explains
Division of merged counties
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What’s the matter?
Both the Labor Party and the Center Party went to the polls to decide that the merged counties can be dissolved if the counties themselves want it. This is also written down in the government’s plan for the next four years.
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Why is there so much talk about now?
The counties that were merged with effect from 2020 have been given a deadline to send a reasoned application as to why they are divided again. It must be sent to the Ministry of Local Government and District Affairs by 1 March.
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Which counties will be divided?
Before the applications are sent, one can not say anything for sure, but both Troms and Finnmark, Oslo and Viken and Vestfold and Telemark have signaled that they want to submit an application for division.
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What happens then?
When the application has been sent on 1 March, the government will submit the proposal for the division of the counties to the Storting. They are the ones who have to approve that the counties are divided again.
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What will happen in the future?
The counties will be divided from 1 January 2024. By then, the political parties will have time for a new nomination process, and new municipal councils and county councils can be elected in the local elections in the autumn of 2023.
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How much does all this cost?
It is estimated that the merging of all counties will cost NOK 3.2 billion. It is not known what the division will cost, but we know that the sum varies from county to county.
Minister of Finance Trygve Slagsvold Vedum has largely promised that the government will pay the costs directly related to the dissolution.
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Do you want your county to be divided?
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In the northernmost county, politicians have been so sure they have the people behind them for divorce that they have not even held a referendum.
NRK and Polaris Media have therefore asked InFact to take the temperature of the population, and asked: how big is the support among the inhabitants around sharing?
The answer is the closest we come to crystal clear. A large majority of the people support the divorce that is going on.
Swipe for more opinions here:
Sofie Steffensen in Tromsø thinks she does not have enough knowledge about what the county municipality really is and does. – I do not really understand the reason why the counties were merged. And is there really any point in splitting them again?
Photo: Karl Biehl / NRK
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Morten Kirkesæther in Kirkenes wants the counties to be divided. – I do not have very good arguments for that, but that is how it was before. I reckon it was better before.
Photo: Kristina Kalinina / NRK
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Kari Nesje from Alta is against dividing the counties again. – Now it has come, and it costs a lot of resources to divide the counties again. I have not experienced it as a disadvantage in the time we have been merged.
Photo: Kristina Kalinina / NRK
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Anton Nilsen in Kirkenes wants Finnmark as his own county. – Finnmark shall be Finnmark. I think we have more control when we are alone. Now we have a different form of governance and some other priorities, and I’m not entirely happy.
Photo: Kristina Kalinina / NRK
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Resistance clearly weakened
Although the majority for splitting the county is clear, the opinion poll also shows that far more people have become positive about the large county in the time after the merger.
NRKs poll in March 2018 showed that 86 per cent of the Finnmarkers surveyed were against the forced merger of Troms and Finnmark. Only 10 percent were in favor. In Troms, 73 per cent were against forced mergers, while 21 per cent were in favor.
Compared with a survey in 2021, people in Finnmark have become more confident about splitting the county.
No Brexit effect
Six out of ten will thus return Troms and Finnmark to two counties. The opposition is greatest in East Finnmark. And this has also been the case since the discussions about merging began, says political commentator at NRK, Lars Nehru Sand.
The feeling of distance and the feeling of state abuse is largest in Finnmark, he says.
He has gone through the numbers, and looked for a kind of Brexit effect. That young people are more eager for change than older people. But are they?
– It is not the case that young people are more positive about remaining one county. We have seen similar measurements in the south as well, and there are no big differences there either, says Nehru Sand.
In the survey from InFact, 45-64-year-olds are most positive about continuing the large county, and the oldest are the least positive.