Kjersti Stenseng
Stenseng at the Labour Party conference in 2017.
Party Secretary of the Labour Party
Assumed office
18 April 2015
LeaderJonas Gahr Støre
Preceded byRaymond Johansen
Deputy Member of the Storting
In office
1 October 2013 – 30 September 2017
Deputising forRigmor Aasrud (2013)
Preceded byStine Renate Håheim
ConstituencyOppland
Personal details
Born (1974-09-04) 4 September 1974 (age 49)
Nord-Fron, Oppland, Norway
Political partyLabour
Domestic partnerTom Tvedt

Kjersti Stenseng (born 4 September 1974) is a Norwegian politician for the Labour Party currently serving as the party secretary since 2015.[1] She also served as a deputy member of the Storting from Oppland from 2013 to 2017.

Career

Education

She finished her secondary education at Vinstra Upper Secondary School in 1993. She minored in sociology and modern history at the Nord-Trøndelag University College and Lillehammer University College before studying political science and history at the University of Oslo. She also took teacher's education and worked as a teacher in Kvam and Vinstra from 1997 to 1999. From 1999 to 2010 she worked in the Peer Gynt Festival, the last nine years as director, and from 2010 to 2011 she was the director of the Norwegian Festival of Literature.[2]

Local politics

She served as a municipal council member in Sør-Fron from 2007 to 2011. She became leader in Oppland Labour Party in 2010 and also national board member, and was promoted to central board member in 2011.[2]

Government

She was an acting political adviser in the Ministry of Culture from January to August 2010, then acting political adviser again from June to October 2011. From November to December 2011 she was an acting State Secretary in the same ministry. From 1 January 2012 she was an acting political adviser again, then political adviser from March and State Secretary from May 2012 to 1 October 2013.[3]

Parliament

She was elected as a deputy representative to the Parliament of Norway from Oppland in 2013. As Rigmor Aasrud from Oppland was a member of the outgoing Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet, Stenseng met as a regular representative during the two weeks before the cabinet change.[1]

Party politics

At the 2015 party conference, she was elected party secretary. She has been re-elected at every convention since.[4]

Mere weeks before the 2023 party convention, former deputy leader and mayor of Tana Helga Pedersen was open to succeeding Stenseng as party secretary as part of a greater renewal of the party's leadership. This was despite the fact that Stenseng had previously announced that she would seek re-election.[5] On 30 April, Pedersen announced that she wouldn't stand as a candidate to succeed Stenseng, arguing that she didn't have sufficient support within the party. This marked the first time that Stenseng's position had been challenged.[6]

Personal life

She is currently in a relationship with former president of the Norwegian Confederation of Sports Tom Tvedt.[7] In January 2024, she announced that they would be getting married in August the same year.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b "Stenseng, Kjersti" (in Norwegian). Stortinget.no. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Tidligere statssekretær Kjersti Stenseng" (in Norwegian). Government.no. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  3. ^ "Jens Stoltenberg's Second Government". Government.no. Retrieved 6 October 2013.
  4. ^ "Her er Støres nye mannskap" (in Norwegian). NRK. 18 April 2015. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  5. ^ "Ap-sjokk: - Jeg stiller" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. 20 April 2023. Retrieved 21 April 2023.
  6. ^ "Helga Pedersen: – Jeg stiller ikke som kandidat til å bli partisekretær" (in Norwegian). NRK Troms og Finnmark. 30 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  7. ^ "- Det handler om å være kjærester og støtte hverandre som mennesker" (in Norwegian). Dagbladet. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
  8. ^ "Arbeiderpartiets partisekretær skal gifte seg med Tom Tvedt" (in Norwegian). Verdens Gang. 5 January 2024. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
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