Kristin Halvorsen resigns as SV party leader

Kristin Halvorsen has asked SV to find a new leader next year.

“I decided long ago that in 2013 SV must have a new leader, said Halvorsen during her speech at SV’s national convention Monday night.

She elaborated for TV 2: “I am very confident that I’m doing what’s right and that another must take my place.”

The announcement came just an hour after the first forecasts began to trickle in from polling stations around the country.

VG’s election day forecasts showed that SV had its worst election since 1979.

SV got a participation rating in the forecasts of 4.9 percent, a decline of 1.3 percentage points from their catastrophic election in 2007. Only half of those who voted for SV four years ago voted SV for in 2011.

Tuesday morning at 7:40 a.m. the party was at an even lower 4.3 percentage points nationwide.

Both Halvorsen herself and party members that have been pointed out as possible successors have refused to say whether Halvorsen would give in if the SV did poorly at the municipal elections this year.

“We are not going to speculate about that right now,” said Inga Marte Thorkildsen to VGTV only a few hours before Halvorsen’s speech Monday night.

“Kristin was not to be misunderstood, she was clear and direct about leaving, and I think that I’m glad I get to keep her as a colleague in the government. I appreciate Kristin as a colleague,” says Jonas Gahr Støre to VG Nett on at the Labor’s election monitoring in the People’s House in Oslo. “I was surprised in the sense that I did not know about it beforehand, but she argued for her departure in a manner that deserves respect.”

Støre will not say anything about the consequences Halvorsen’s departure may have on the coalition government cooperation after 2013.