Oslo could have a Muslim from Bahrain as its mayor.
Abdullah Alsabeehg (40) has been put forward as the Labour Party’s mayoral candidate for Oslo ahead of next year’s local elections, reports Dagsavisen.
He has not yet been officially nominated. The chair of the nomination committee, Agnes Viljugrein, explains that he is on the list because he is the only candidate who has been put forward.
Alsabeehg himself has taken to Facebook to write: “I am standing as a candidate for mayor of Oslo!”
He then adds: “If the members of the Oslo Labour Party want me to, I am ready and motivated.”
He was born in Bahrain in 1986. His family fled because his father opposed the dictatorship in the country, as reported by Utrop in 2021. In 1989, they arrived in Norway and initially lived at the asylum centre at Klemetsrud. Alsabeehg grew up in Holmlia.
He has been a member of the city council since 2011. He served as city council secretary under Raymond Johansen, and in 2021 he became deputy mayor, succeeding Kamzy Gunaratnam, who moved to the Storting. Utrop described him as Oslo’s first Muslim deputy mayor.
In the spring of 2024, he was due to visit dozens of mosques during Ramadan, according to Dagsavisen. At the time, he believed that everything depended on how the Labour Party and the West handled the situation in Gaza.
It is not yet certain that he will get the position. The rules state that the candidate for city council leader and the candidate for mayor must be of different genders.
The nomination committee has identified Marthe Scharning Lund and Usman Mushtaq as possible candidates for city council leader, and the parties will decide who tops the list. If it is Mushtaq, the Labour Party must find a female candidate for mayor.
Even if the Labour Party puts forward a candidate, it is the city council that elects the mayor after the election. Currently, Anne Lindboe (H) is mayor, and Eirik Lae Solberg (H) is city council leader. The Conservative Party, the Liberal Party, the Progress Party and the Christian Democratic Party agreed to form a coalition government in 2023.
This could change. A poll by Respons Analyse for *Aftenposten*, published on 21 September, shows a red-green majority in Oslo. The Conservative Party (Høyre) stands at 22.5 per cent and the Labour Party (Ap) at 22.2 per cent. The Progress Party (FrP) has 14.6 per cent, the Green Party (MDG) 11.2 per cent, the Socialist Left Party (SV) 10.0 per cent and the Red Party (Rødt) 9.2 per cent. Venstre gets 7.4 per cent, KrF 0.9 per cent and Sp 0.7 per cent, whilst other parties account for 1.3 per cent. 806 people were surveyed, and 645 stated which party they would vote for.
Winning does not automatically mean that the Labour Party (Ap) will secure the mayoral seat. From 2015 to 2023, Marianne Borgen of the Socialist Left Party (SV) served as mayor, whilst the Labour Party (Ap) held the position of leader of the city council.
The Oslo Ap branches have until 1 November to inform the committee of their choice. The final recommendation will be announced on 13 November, and members will vote on the list on 21 and 22 November.
