Sveinung Stensland (H) will not seek re-election to the Storting

Policy: Until the autumn, Stensland will have served twelve years in the Storting, but then the politician from Haugesund will stop, writes Haugesund’s Avis.

– There have been long trade-offs. I had made up my mind at Easter, but came back to the Storting and learned that party and county colleague Tina Bru is giving up. Then I took an extra round. I came to the conclusion that it is the inner motivation that is lacking, and it is not influenced by others. Then it is most correct to give up. I have done my part, says Stensland to the newspaper.

The 51-year-old has been a shop steward in the Conservative Party since 2002. He has also been a leader in the local teams in both Tysvær and Haugesund and served two terms in both the city council and the county council.

He acknowledges that the political scandals in Norwegian politics in recent years have affected him.

– All the noise around the politicians has got to me. It has not affected me directly, nor has there been any reason for it, but I do notice in the dialogue with people that being a politician is no longer “now’ tess”. This summer was the first time I didn’t introduce myself as a politician when someone privately asked what I was working on. I said pharmacist, says Stensland.

(© NTB)