The Labour Party-led city government in Bergen has fallen again, this time after several children didn’t get the help they needed from local child welfare officials. It’s the second time in a year that the government has been forced out, and some blame a parliamentary form of political leadership.
City government leader Roger Valhammer of the Labour Party announced he’ll be stepping down permanently after the latest lack of confidence vote in his leadership. He also announced that in contrast to earlier political crises, he won’t be coming back.
That leaves it up to others to form a new city government when no party constellations have a majority. “After all the chaos around the city government, I question whether a parliamentary system works in Bergen,” Cesilie Tveit, leader of Folkets Parti FNB in Bergen, told state broadcaster NRK. So do others, with Professor Anne Lise Fimreite nothing that a parliamentary system “needs two sides that are big enough to function. When there’s such a fragmented City Council as there is in Bergen (with 11 different parties represented), it becomes a problem to form coalitions that can lead.”
Neither the Conservatives nor Labour, still the largest two parties in Bergen, want to change the system, though. It remained unclear when a new government will be formed.
NewsinEnglish.no staff
