The case was updated on 13.09 at 23.55 with an additional quote from Myrseth dealing with conflict of interest and integrity.
– I did not discuss this with anyone at Storting. But I have no problem combining the two roles,” says Bengt Rune Streifeld (Frp), who sits on the industry board at Stortinget for Finnmark.
Bengt Run Streifeld (Frp) believes that it is entirely possible to combine the roles of parliamentary representative and mayor in Finnmark’s largest city, Alta.
Photo: Jonas Loeken Estenstadt / NRK
Nominating Ronnie Berg as a mayoral candidate at a nomination meeting at Alta Frp. Before the summer, however, he accepted a job as municipal director in Karasjok.
This left the local party without a clear mayoral candidate. The solution is to be determined by individual votes.
After the individual votes were counted on Tuesday evening, it was clear that Bengt Roon Streifeld had won the most votes.
– It’s great that so many people want me to be at the top, says Streifelt.
Depends on goodwill
Since the FRP has become the largest party in Finnmark’s largest city, it is only natural that they also get a mayor.
But the party could rely on co-operation to secure a bourgeois majority. and dA natural link is Frp, Høyre and Venstre.
The Conservatives won 12.4 percent of the vote and will have more leverage in the negotiations. However, it is uncertain whether the local team will be satisfied with FRP’s mayor flying between Oslo and Alta.
– It is neither wise nor right for me to comment on this now. Alta Høyre has a board meeting on Thursday. He says I don’t want to say anything before that.
Alta Frp will probably depend on cooperation with Alta Høyre to get the mayor for the next four years. However, Høyre’s 1st candidate, Alex Bjørkmann, would not comment on Streifelt’s dual role until the local committee discussed the matter.
Photo: Christina Gerdson / NRK
If Bengt Rune Strifeldt does not become the party’s mayoral candidate, the arrows will point in the direction of Odd Eilert Selvaste Persen. He received the second individual vote.
Persen declared himself the current mayoral candidate after Ronnie Berg left the local team.
The board did not like this.
– I think it is very demanding
Jonas Stein, a political scientist at UiT, is missing someone who has been a mayor and a parliamentary politician at the same time.
– Combining two roles is not prohibited. But Stein says there are many practical elements here that the city council will have to decide.
– What practical elements?
– There are 2,000 kilometers between Oslo and Alta. Attending meetings in both places at the same time can be difficult, says Stein.
– Do you think you can do a good job combining these two roles?
– I think it’s too demanding, says Stein.
Political scientist Jonas Stein finds a politician who combines the role of permanent representative and mayor in the Storting.
Photo: Rune N. Andreassen
– In principle, there is nothing wrong with holding office in multiple elected bodies at the same time. However, it follows from practice that leave from the Storting office is not granted to take office as a local elected official, says Gunnar Syverud, senior advisor at the Storting.
– Storting received no application from Streifeld. If we get it, it will get a thorough and proper treatment,” says Storting’s senior advisor Gunnar Syverud.
Photo: Directorate of Agriculture
I request my party colleagues to think about this
Party member Ståle Johan Karlsen of Vadsø FRP does not have very strong opinions about Streifelt’s dual role.
But, as he says:
– He should think about it. I think it is difficult to hold both positions at the same time. The demand is to have a mayor of a municipality as large as Alta. It’s also a parliamentary job, says Carlson.
He had no doubts about what he would do.
– Personally, I would have trouble doing a good job on both levels at the same time. Above all, there are two important positions. If I were Bengt Run, I would try to get leave from Storting, he says.
At Vadsø FRP Ståle Johan Karlsen asks Bengt Rune Strifeldt to think carefully. – If I were Bengt Rune, he says, I would try to get leave from Storting.
Photo: Private
Hammerfest supports colleague Streifelt
Arne Reider Mirseth, a party colleague at Hammerfest, believes Bengt Rune Streifelt knows what he’s doing.
He believes it is possible to be the mayor of Finnmark’s largest city and manage the parliamentary work at the same time.
– With great work skills and ability to work intelligently, this can be done. But it can be difficult and demanding, says Mirseth.
At the same time, he knows that working for an entire county and working for a municipality at the same time can have inconsistencies.
– Personally, I think he has the integrity he needs, but I’m afraid it could be used against him and Alta, says Mirseth.
Arne Reidar Myrseth at Hammerfest Frp believes Bengt Rune Strifeldt can juggle both roles.
Photo: Alan Cloe / NRK
We will not increase the salary twice
Streifelt says he will continue to work in the best interests of Finnmark if he stays at Storting.
– I will continue to respond to the rest of the district. I think you have to have two thoughts in your head at the same time.
A double pay raise is out of the question if he sits in both the parliamentary seat and the mayor’s chair in his home town.
– If I am elected mayor, I will not need the mayor’s salary in the coming years. So the money flow goes the right way – from South to North, jokes the parliamentary representative.
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