Mette Hanekamhaug (born 4 June 1987) is a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

politician for the Progress Party. In the 2009 parliamentary election, she was the youngest person to be elected to the Norwegian Parliament (

Storting The Storting ( no, Stortinget ) (lit. the Great Thing) is the supreme legislature of Norway, established in 1814 by the Constitution of Norway. It is located in Oslo. The unicameral parliament has 169 members and is elected every four years ...

et). Hanekamhaug represents the

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Møre og Romsdal Møre og Romsdal (; en, Møre and Romsdal) is a county in the northernmost part of Western Norway. It borders the counties of Trøndelag, Innlandet, and Vestland. The county administration is located in the town of Molde, while Ålesund is t ...

Background

After finishing secondary school in

Molde Molde () is a town and municipality in Møre og Romsdal county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Romsdal. It is located on the Romsdal Peninsula, surrounding the Fannefjord and Moldefjord. The administrative centre of t ...

, Hanekamhaug started working towards a bachelor's degree at

BI Norwegian Business School BI Norwegian Business School () is the largest business school in Norway and the second largest in all of Europe. BI has in total four campuses with the main one located in Oslo. The university has 845 employees consisting of an academic staff o ...

in 2008. She has been involved in politics since 2004, when she became chairman of the local youth wing of the Progress Party ( Youth of the Progress Party). Both her parents are active in the party, her mother as a

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

representative, her father as a member of the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

. She went on to become chairman of the county youth organisation in 2005, and a member of the county council in 2007. From 2007 to 2008, she also worked as a trainee for the central organisation of the party, in the role of personal assistant to party leader

Siv Jensen Siv Jensen (born 1 June 1969) is a Norwegian who served as the leader of the Progress Party from 2006 to 2021. She also held the position as Minister of Finance from 2013 to 2020 in the Solberg Cabinet. She was also a member of the Norwegian p ...

. In 2010 Hanekamhaug decided to become active in the youth organization, and took the role as first deputy chairman.

Parliament

Hanekamhaug was nominated as the Progress Party's third candidate from Møre og Romsdal in the 2009 parliamentary election, and was elected because of good results for her party in that part of Norway. At 22 years, she became the youngest representative in the assembly. Her seat, however, was the final

leveling seat Leveling seats ( da, tillægsmandat, sv, utjämningsmandat, no, utjevningsmandater, is, jöfnunarsæti, german: Ausgleichsmandat), commonly known also as adjustment seats, are an election mechanism employed for many years by all Nordic countrie ...

in parliament, and as such was at first somewhat precarious. It was reported on 21 September that her seat had been lost, though later the same day it became clear that this information was due to a data entry error. Final results were released on 24 September, confirming Hanekamhaug's seat.

Views and issues

Hanekamhaug received some negative attention for a remark she made at a school debate, comparing Prime Minister

Jens Stoltenberg Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to ...

to the sexual predator known as "

The Pocket Man Erik Andersen (born 20 March 1952), also referred to in the media as The Pocket Man (in Norwegian "Lommemannen"), is a convicted Norwegian child molester from Bergen. He was arrested in 2008, accused of molesting hundreds of children since 1976, a ...

", intended as a criticism of the government's fiscal policies. She later apologised for this statement. She was also ridiculed for an interview where she allegedly stated that she did not consider books to be culture, which she later claimed to have said that she did not consider reading books a cultural ''experience'', and that she had a great interest in

Norwegian literature Norwegian literature is literature composed in Norway or by Norwegian people. The history of Norwegian literature starts with the pagan Eddaic poems and skaldic verse of the 9th and 10th centuries with poets such as Bragi Boddason and Eyvindr ...

. Hanekamhaug is particularly involved in educational politics and issues of road safety and infrastructure. She has mentioned among her political idols

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United Stat ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the first female British prime ...

, and Norwegian Progress Party politician

Carl I. Hagen Carl-Ivar Hagen (born 6 May 1944) is a Norwegian politician and former Vice President of the Storting, the Norwegian parliament. He was the leader of the Progress Party (Norway), Progress Party from 1978 to 2006, when he stepped down in favour ...

References

External links

Stortinget home pageParty home pagePersonal blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanekamhaug, Mette 1987 births Living people People from Molde Progress Party (Norway) politicians Members of the Storting Women members of the Storting 21st-century Norwegian politicians 21st-century Norwegian women politicians