Elections in Longyearbyen bring change and resentment
At the moment, political landscapes in many parts of Europe are being partially reshuffled during elections. Also in Longyearbyen, Svalbard’s main town, the local council was newly elected. Here, too, the political landscape has been shaken up quite a bit and there could be a lot more changes in Longyearbyen in the future.
A landslide in the political composition of the local council (Lokalstyre) in Longyearbyen is the result of last Monday’s elections. The Labor Party, which had held the majority for about 20 years, was replaced by the Liberals. The latter will also provide the new head, who is already known: Leif Terje Aunevik replaces Arid Olsen, who has presided over the Lokalstyre since 2015. Aunevik and his Venstre party will receive 7 seats in the 15-member municipal council, while the left Labor Party will only have 3 seats. The remaining 5 go to the Social Liberals (3 seats) and the Conservatives (2 seats).
For the Labor Party, the election result is a slap in the face. Only 147 of the 808 votes cast went to the party, while the Liberals received 370. The party representatives are not at all pleased with this and there were long faces last Monday evening when the results became clear. Even the newly formed Social Liberals received almost the same number of votes (122) as the Labor Party off the cuff. “We have to acknowledge the election defeat and that we have not been good enough,” a visibly bummed Svein Jonny Albrigtsen told the press. “There’s nothing else that can be said about it.”
The winners around Leif Terje Aunevik, on the other hand, had a reason for partying. They were able to gain again compared to the last election, from 345 to 370 votes and thus from 5 seats to 7. “It is stunning and of course fantastic,” the president-elect told the newspaper Svalbardposten. “I would like to think that the results come from the fact that we have a group that has done a good job in the last term. At least I hope so.” He may be right in his assessment, as Longyearbyen is undergoing a massive transformation and the challenges are enormous. Away from mining, towards a service economy with a special focus on tourism, which has led to many and sometimes heated discussions between the various stakeholders. In addition, there are changes and uncertainties in the energy supply and increased prices in many areas. This is causing discontent among the population, which might have been reflected in voting behavior.
But it was not only the Labor Party that suffered a major defeat. Right-wing parties such as the Conservatives and the Progressive Party are also among the losers in the election. The latter is no longer represented in the municipal council, after they were able to gather 130 votes four years ago. The Green Party, represented by one deputy in the municipal council in 2019, are also no longer represented.
Another very important reason for the massive shifts within the political landscape in Longyearbyen may be the new electoral law enacted by the government in Oslo. This excludes foreigners living in Longyearbyen who previously had the right to vote locally. Only those foreigners who have been registered in a Norwegian municipality on the mainland for at least three years before moving to Longyearbyen are allowed to vote. This decision, which has been defended several times by Minister of Justice Emilie Enger Mehl (Center Party) with the argument of putting the administration of Svalbard back into the hands of Norway, is causing a great deal of resentment both among those affected and among opposition parties such as the Liberals and Social Liberals and even the Conservatives. Just four years ago, this group of voters was able to get to the polls, bringing the number of voters to 1,823 and providing 1,128 valid votes in the election. This year, there were only 1,420 eligible voters and of those, only 808 went to the polls at all. Many voting residents of Longyearbyen, dissatisfied with the decision from Oslo, where the Labor Party leads the government, had issued thoughts about boycotting the voting. Since all but the Labor Party opposed this law in the first place, this may have been one reason for the change in the local council.
The impact of the new composition of the municipal council on the further development of Longyearbyen is now likely to be seen. The cliffs that need to be circumnavigated are the same, but the new captain and navigators may have a different view of things and seek a different route. The future will tell.
Dr Michael Wenger, PolarJournal
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