STORTINGET (Dagbladet): Trond Giskes a lot the aforementioned local Ap team recently reached 2,200 members.
Nidaros Social Democratic Forum, as the team is called, it is by far the largest local political club in Norway.
For the first time since Giske’s extraordinary growth, Trøndelag Ap county head, Health and Welfare Minister Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap), is taking the leaf out of his mouth.
Nidaros is under the leadership of Kjerkol County and its speech is clear: the growth of members of Trond Giske’s local team can lead to loss of power in the party and weakening of party democracy.
Wild growth – refuse to return
– It will lead to impotence
Kjerkol therefore wants many of Giske’s Labor Party members not to be counted, he tells Dagbladet.
– Our roots in the other 37 municipal parties must not be weakened because a local team works more like a national party team and has the majority of its members from outside Trøndelag, says Kjerkol.
She adds:
– It will be wrong. It will lead to impotence and the weakening of grassroots influence over our politics.
COUNTY LEADER AND STATE COUNCIL: Ingvild Kjerkol plays an important role both in government and in his own party. Photo: Shad Midian / Dagbladet
sea View
Alarm in AP management
Crazy growth
As Dagbladet has recounted in several articles, a separate statutory committee in the PA works to examine party membership.
Dagbladet is aware that the committee will present solutions to the central party council that will be able to limit Giske’s access to membership.
Ingvild Kjerkol, who sits on the central council, says he believes a party member must live in the same municipality as his local team to be counted in the party’s internal balance of power.
Up to half of Nidaros Ap members do not live in Trondheim municipality. As the rules are now, these members will also give Giske and Nidaros a huge platform and impact in both the Trøndelag Ap and national meetings.
Internal washing in the Labor Party
Where do you live
Dagbladet’s calculations show that Nidaros in practice, the management of Trondheim Ap will be absolutely decisive for Trøndelag Apand provide a set of new delegates to national Trøndelag meetings. These delegates are at the expense of the rest of the country, which in that case must give way to Trøndelag.
Kjerkol points out that this would be wrong, even if his own county team can carry nationwide power in AP.
– In paragraph 2 of the guidelines for municipal parties, it is stated that it is “the members of the Labor Party in a municipality who form the party departments and the municipal party”. This is the fundamental substance of our democracy. That you should be able to influence the politics where you live, says Kjerkol.
Ruthless confrontation with Giske
Exception for students, not for Giske
He adds that “membership growth in the Labor Party is good” and that the Trøndelag Labor Party board has sent input to the statute committee
– We believe that every card holder should count in the same way, but that it should be the municipality of residence that decides where a representation card counts. Exceptions can be made for student teams. I am concerned that all local teams in Trøndelag have good activity and membership growth, and my responsibility as county leader is to make sure that the party members who live in Trøndelag, Røros, Flatanger, Verdal and Steinkjer, have an influence on our policy, says Trøndelag county director Ap.
