Multiple Factors to Blame for Ap’s Poor Performance, Says Political Scientist

It is not only Jonas Gahr Støre’s fault that things are going badly with Labor Party, says political scientist Svein Erik Tuastad at the University of Stavanger. He points to several reasons.

Some Ap mayors demand that Jonas Gahr Støre must resign after Ap’s poor election result of 21.7 percent. They believe that poor party leadership and the government’s integrity issues are to blame for the weak election result, writes Dagsavisen.

Political scientist Svein Erik Tuastad at the University of Stavanger tells the newspaper that we are now in a phase where simple solutions are unsolved, and the simplest thing is to look at the party leader and the rest of the leadership.

– Calling for a change in the Labor Party’s leadership becomes banal, especially because they have just renewed their leadership, says Tuastad.

He points to the fact that ministers Tonje Brenna and Jan Christian Vestre were elected as new deputy leaders as recently as during the Ap-party national meeting in May.

Tuastad, on the other hand, highlights several other reasons for Aps’ weak election result. He points out that all government constellations in Scandinavia have been affected by the bad times, with war, expensive times, inflation and high interest rates, and that Ap, as the largest government party, is paying the price for this with a drop in support.