Labor Party's candidate for mayor will not run again

The Conservatives were the big winners in Monday’s elections, with an increased participation of 8.7 percentage points. The Progress Party’s results were less pleasant, with a decline of 6.1 percentage points.
Rune Gerhardsen

Rune Gerhardsen

The Labor Party had a good election in Oslo, but it was not enough to ensure the majority in the capital.

“Now I’ve done my part for the city,” says Rune Gerhardsen, the Labor Party’s candidate for mayor in Oslo.

Election results show that SV got barely 45 percent of the votes in Oslo. Labor is Oslo’s second-largest party, with just over 33 percent of the vote.

“I am very disappointed. We still had a good election, but we did not get the majority alone. In addition, it is bad for our business partners,” says Gerhardsen to NRK.

When asked how sad he was that he would not get to be mayor of Oslo, he replied, “I’d really like to be mayor, but it is not sad. I have been leader of the City Council and it is a more significant position in this city.”

Gerhardsen has been elected to the city council for another four years. “I have had enough years in the City Council to say that I have done my civic duty there,” says Gerhardsen to NRK.

Gerhardsen has previously been leader of Oslo’s City Council, from 1991 to 1997.

“I have put my stamp on the Oslo development already, but I had hoped that I would succeed this time. It is wise that a city like Oslo change management at regular intervals.”

In 2003 he was again a candidate for Mayor of Oslo Labor Party, and as a result of the those elections,  he has been leader of the Labor Party’s council group in Oslo.

“Now I’ve been elected for four more years to the Oslo City Council, but it is difficult to say exactly what that will bring. One thing is for sure, I’m not going to run for election in 2015,” concludes Gerhardsen.

Source: NRK

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