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ENOUGH: President Sven-Roald Nystø is leaving the Saami parliament. He has had the office for seven years. |
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SEARCHING FOR A NEW PRESIDENT: Aili Keskitalo tries to find a new president election. She says people want a woman for the job. |
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WAS A CANDIDATE: Berit Ranveig Nilssen has retracted her candidature for the office due to her family situation. |
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STEPS DOWN FROM THE RACE: Steinar Pedersen says that he is giving up his candidature to make room for women. |
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Women struggle for power in Sápmi
The President of the Saami Parliament, Sven-Roald Nystø, will not run for office next year. Consequently the stage is set for a change of power – for the first time in history, the President could be a woman.
 Sámi Radio: 15.10.2004 kl. 13:32
The Saami Parliament in Norway was first opened by H.M. King Olav V in Karasjok on 9 October 1989. A popularly elected body for the Saami, the Parliament’s representatives are elected every four years. Those winning the majority choose the President. Since 1989 there have been only two Presidents, and both of them were men.
16 years of only men
The first President was the Kautokeino man Ole Henrik Magga from the political party Norske Samers Riksforbund (“National Alliance of Norwegian Saami”). He held the presidency from 1989 to 1997.
Sven-Roald Nystø from Tysfjord, also a representative of Norske Samers Riksforbund (NSR), took over in 1997. Although still in office, Nystø announced during a press conference in Tromsø two weeks ago that he would not seek re-election, either as President or as Saami Parliament representative.
The autumn of 2005 will see another election – and people are already speculating about who will be the new President of the Saami Parliament.
Selecting the best candidate
A number of people have voiced the opinion that men have held this office for 15 years and that a woman should assume it next year. Norske Samers Riksforbund, which has been the leading party from the start in Norway, has also set a course to gain greater support among women, both as voters and as representatives.
«It seems that society demands a female President, or at least the possibility of electing one.
The debate within Norske Samers Riksforbund reflects this. The names popping up are female. It is a public demand. I would say that we need to elect the best candidate, be it a man or a woman. I believe that female and male candidates would prefer to be elected because of their competency and personality – rather than gender,» says the President of Norske Samers Riksforbund, Aili Keskitalo, who herself is a woman. She, however, has declined running as a presidential candidate.
Attempts to encourage female participation
According to Keskitalo, NSR boasts many good, female candidates, but she adds that mentioning anyone in particular is out of the question.
Do you believe that the next President will be a woman anyway?
«It is just as likely that it will be a man as a woman. I do not want to commit myself by suggesting a woman,» she replies.
Even so, Keskitalo realises that balance at the Saami Parliament is not quite as it should be. Few of the representatives are female. She and the other leaders of NSR are therefore trying to motivate local parties to select women as their top candidates.
«Our goal is to achieve 40 percent support for each gender in our Saami Parliament group,» explains Keskitalo, but she cannot guarantee that NSR can get more women in. Today NSR has four female and ten male representatives out of a total of 39 in the Saami Parliament.
Family prioritised
One of the first candidates NSR introduced was the long-standing politician Berit Ranveig Nilssen, now parliamentary leader for NSR in the Saami Parliament. After weighing it out carefully, she has concluded that she does not want to run for office – and this due to her family.
Political scientist and researcher Eva Josefsen at Norut Nibir in Alta states that such reasons are not uncommon.
«A possible explanation as to why women prioritise family to a greater degree is that we are more often preoccupied with our families. We are brought up to assume responsibility for families – it is something women are raised to do in contrast to men. We take our upbringing with us into the public sphere, and so also the responsibility for family, relatives and parents. As politicians we have more factors to consider than men do. We will more often see female politicians declining offices because of family,» says Josefsen.
She also believes that the Saami woman is more aware of this situation than Norwegian women. This is most likely due to the fact that Saami women emerge out of a traditional setting, whereas Norwegian women grow up in a modernised society.
Currently only seven out of the thirty-nine representatives at the Saami Parliament are female. According to Josefsen, this is due to the nomination process. Few women have ever been first on the list of the big parties, such as Arbeiderpartiet (The Labour Party) and Norske Samers Riksforbund, thus few of them make it into Parliament.
«To bring the female percentage up, the big parties need to make sure they nominate women as top election candidates,» Josefsen suggests.
Yields to women
Steinar Pedersen, Sámi Parliament representative for the Labour Party, announced that he will give up his place at the top of the nomination list in favour of a woman.
«If women are to have a real chance of taking a seat in the Saami Parliament, we men have to yield up those places. I will do this. Personally I hope that my party will nominate a woman to the top position on the list. We have many young and highly qualified women in the Labour Party who are ready to assume such a responsibility. But it is of course the party’s nomination process that determines this,» said Pedersen to NRK Sámi Radio last winter.
And he does not conceal the fact that his first choice is a woman.
«The Saami Parliament situation is not acceptable at present. We can no longer live with women so weakly represented. If this is to change, the men will have to yield up their top positions. I encourage all of our local party groups from the various election districts to think the same way,» says Pedersen, who has been a representative since 1989.
«I am pleased that male politicians are showing their solidarity with us,» stated NSR President Aili Keskitalo after Pedersen’s statement was released.
The nomination processes for the various Saami Parliament election lists has begun. In the course of the winter, it will become clear whether a woman can climb all the way to the top and obtain the most prominent position in the Saami Parliament.
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