The former leader of the right-wing Progress Party (FrP), Carl I.Hagen, was so upset when he wasn’t chosen as the Party’s representative in the new Nobel Committee, that he immediately cleaned up his desk and resigned from the party's Central Committee.
"I resigned immediately after the Central Board meeting," the former leader of the Progress Party (FrP) told Aftenposten."The reason is the treatment and humiliation I have been subject to from the party leaders."
Hagen voiced his interest in the seat on the committee last Wednesday, but when it became clear that the election committee was prepared to keep the party’s current representative, Inger Marie Ytterhorn, Hagen was added as a candidate at the last minute. He lost the position with a count of six votes against Ytterhorn’s 25.
Immediately after the results were announced Tuesday, Hagen walked across the street to his office, cleared out his desk, and resigned from the Central Committee as well as Head of the Progress Party’s organization that represents senior citizens.
The resignation marks a personal defeat for Hagen, who was eager to have a seat in the Committee, which determines each year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. He voiced his frustration and fury in a five-page letter that was distributed to party leaders and the FrP’s Parliamentary Group.
In the letter, Hagen makes it clear that he was shocked by the election committee’s decision. "I had the impression that wouldn’t be a problem," he writes, and refers to conversations he had with Jensen over the years. He thinks Jensen is to blame for not letting him have the opportunity to ask another member of the group promote his candidacy.
However, according to other Parliamentary Members, Hagen was never really a viable candidate for the position. "We have been happy with Ytterhorn’s work, and she wanted to keep her seat on the committee," the leader of FrP’s election committee, Ketil Solvik-Olsen, told DN.
Not all parties decided to go with the same strategy. The Labour Party announced last week that they would replace their long-time candidate Sissel Rønbeck with lawyer Berit Reiss-Andersen.
Most commentators see Hagen's reaction as his exit from national politics. However, he will stay on as head of FrP's representatives on the Oslo City Council, and by Wednesday evening he had found one positive factor in what had happened:
"Now I will at least be able to concentrate on my work for the citizens of Oslo, and not have to spread my time also on meetings at Parliament and the Central Committee, as well as other meetings at national level," he said.
(Aftenposten/DN/NRK)(Picture TV2)
Julie Ryland
Thursday, 17 November 2011 07:31
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