Simen Velle, Narcotics | Opinion poll: Broad support for FpU leader Simen Velle

Six out of ten believe that Simen Velle’s drug conviction should not prevent him from sitting in the Storting. This is shown by a recent poll conducted by InFact for Nettavisen.

21.8 per cent answer that the drug conviction should prevent him from becoming a representative of the Storting, while 18.8 per cent answer “don’t know”.

This week it became known that the FpU leader was caught for drugs by the police on two occasions when he was younger.

The first time he was given a preliminary injunction in 2018. The second time he and two friends were caught for possession of 100 grams of marijuana in 2019. Velle was sentenced to 30 days’ probation.

– The voters are absolutely right

Election researcher Johannes Bergh at the Institute for Social Research is not surprised by the broad support for Velle.

– None of us can expect politicians to be perfect or to have made no mistakes in life. The reactions to Velle’s openness about the past have mostly been positive, says Bergh to Nettavisen.

– In this case, the voters are absolutely right. This is not something that should prevent him from sitting in the Storting. It must be possible to put things you have done behind you. There is a small proportion who are negative, but it is such a small proportion that it is perhaps expected that some are more conservative than others, says the election researcher.

It was the 23-year-old himself who told about the drug sentence in an interview with VG on Tuesday this week.

In April, it became known that Velle wants a place on the Frp’s parliamentary list in Oslo in 2025.

Bergh does not rule out that there has been a change in recent years in terms of people’s attitude towards Norwegian drug policy.

– Yes, it probably has something to do with it. But the main point here is that you can make mistakes and be forgiven for it. So exactly that has nothing to do with drug policy. But I think that many people look at drug use a little differently now than they did a few years ago. And maybe that plays a role, he says.

Incorrect age registered

Velle was sentenced as a minor for the drug offence, but it later transpired that the police had registered the wrong year on him, which ended up being a consequential error right up to sentencing.

Velle himself clarified in a Facebook post on Friday afternoon that he was 18 and of legal age, and not 17, at the time of the crime.

“From the time my dad got sick until I was taken, I was very down, and I don’t have very many memories from that time. As I’ve said before, I wasn’t well at all, struggling with bigger things than remembering dates,” reads the Facebook post.

The clarification will not have any retroactive consequences, according to the police, as the verdict is legally binding.

– Do you think the poll would have had a different outcome if it had been known that Velle was 18 and of legal age when he was sentenced, Bergh?

– No, not really. It must be completely on the margin in that case. I think that people would have reacted in the same way even if this fact had been known, he says.

Velle does not wish to comment on the measurement to Nettavisen. The survey was carried out on 2 May with 1,106 automatic telephone interviews.