On Friday, September 6th Norwegian youth representatives of different political parties visited the college for an election debate in advance of the September 9th Norwegian elections. Hosted by the World Today (the College debate forum), the representatives managed to fill almost every seat in the auditorium; first debating, then answering questions on diverse topics such as international politics, immigration, and the ongoing conflict in Syria.
Represented on the panel were the Christian Democratic Party (Kristeligt Folkeparti), The Christians (De Kristne), the Conservatives (Høyre), the Labour Party (Arbeiderpartiet), the Socialist Left (Sosialistisk Venstre), the Centre Party (Senterpartiet), and the Socio Liberal Party (Venstre). The one-and-a-half hour debate started out with the representatives introducing the audience to their respective parties and their positions on key issues, which served as a basis for the students to later question the opinions and policies of every party from the far left to the far right wing of the political spectrum. This also provided an interesting opportunity for the students to get an insight into Norwegian politics, which could not be timed more fortunately, as the parliamentary elections would be held on the following MOnday.
Reactions from the representatives ranged widely, provoking many “shaking hands” moments from the RCN students – silent shaking hands signifying audience agreement – and a few incidents which prompted signs of disagreement, which gave the debate some edge.
After the debate, some representatives took the time to stay and talk about their parties’ politics and to discuss Atlantic College, as AC ’12 alumnus, Albert Andersen Øyvind, was present representing the Socialist Left on the panel.
After the debate, the World Today Team conducted a survey to find out how the votes of UWCRCN would have been placed on the political spectrum, which will be posted in the next issue of the newsletter.
Many thanks to all who organised and participated in the event.
Max Secher Quorning (RCN 12-14)
