A former classmate of mine, Ingunn Dalaker Øderud, is in the running for mayor of a small municipality in Norway, Modum. Although the Labour party is the largest there, her party - the Center Party - is second largest, and it is clear that Labour can not secure a majority in the council, even with the usual support from the radical left groups.
So Ingunn ran for election based on coming in second and forming a coalition with the various non-socialist parties. The deciding factor appears to be something called Bygdelista, roughly translated to mean "the rural list," an even more traditionalist agrarian grouping than the Center party, which (more candidly) used to call itself the Farmer's party.
I happen to know that Ingunn would make a great mayor. She's honest, forthright, and fair-minded. She's methodical, disciplined, and considerate. If the negotiations she's running succeed, she'll undoubtedly find that lofty and somewhat vague Center party slogans are often at odds with the constraints of real problems, but I suspect she already knows that. And since she is honest, her best and undoubtedly effective term as mayor has a good chance of ruining her standing within the Center party on the national scene.
Ironically, that may be the best. I found out that among all the parties - even the communist party - I am at odds with the Center party more than anyone. Even the Christian democrats, the Labour party, etc. I would hate to see a talent and great personality such as Ingunn's tied up with a platform that, well, suffice to say, is idealistic where it helps the least and bureaucratic where it inhibits creativity.
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