Labour Party selects its candidates for 2027

Oslo news from the past 48 hours: the Arbeiderpartiet has unveiled its first proposals for top of the list for the 2027 municipal elections, Transport Minister Kamzy Gunaratnam (Ap) and the Frp clash over rail funding, and the ongoing strike leads to the cancellation of nearly 600 trains (NRK Oslo, The Local Norway).

Local politics: Oslo news from the race for city government

The nomination committee of the Arbeiderpartiet (Ap) in Oslo presented this week its first draft list for next year's municipal elections. It puts forward Marthe Scharning Lund and Usman Mushtaq as possible candidates for the post of byrådsleder, the head of the city's government. The committee leaves it for now to the party's local branches to say which of the two should head the list (NRK Oslo).

Abdullah Alsabeehg is for now the only person proposed for the post of ordfører, that is, the city's mayor. An internal rule requires that the top of the list and the candidate for the post of mayor be of different genders, which shapes the next steps of discussions within the party (NRK Oslo).

On the right, Høyre announced this summer that it would keep its current duo at the top of the list for the 2027 election, built around the head of the city's government, Eirik Lae Solberg, elected in 2023 (NRK Oslo). The proposals of the Ap nomination committee still need to be validated by the party's bodies before the campaign.

Rail budget: the minister and the Frp contradict each other

In September, Transport Minister Kamzy Gunaratnam (Ap) tested the new local trains of the Østlandet and said she was impressed by a speed of 160 kilometres per hour. Shortly after, the state budget was presented. In an interview given to NRK, the minister, appointed a month ago, says that the funding allocated to rail is at a historically high level (NRK Oslo).

The Fremskrittspartiet (Frp) disputes this presentation. Former Transport Minister Ketil Solvik-Olsen, now an economist at the think tank Civita, calls it "directly false." He points to a sharp drop in real funding for rail and relies on figures from the Transport Ministry, Samferdselsdepartementet, which, according to him, confirm his calculations once the amounts are adjusted for prices (NRK Oslo). A minister must be "truthful" in the way he or she presents the budget, he adds.

The issue directly concerns Oslo and the Østlandet, where the new local trains promoted by the minister operate. Both sides rely on the same public accounts, with different calculation methods for price adjustment (NRK Oslo).

Trains: nearly 600 services cancelled

The ongoing strike in the rail sector is leading to the cancellation of nearly 600 trains in the coming days in Norway, The Local Norway reports. Oslo's traffic is affected, as the capital is the country's main rail hub, affecting the journeys of residents of Oslo county and neighbouring municipalities.

The source mentions neither a date for the resumption of negotiations nor a timeline for the end of the dispute. These disruptions add to the Oslo news related to rail of the past two days, against a backdrop of budget debate between the Transport Minister and the Frp (The Local Norway, NRK Oslo).

📌 Local briefs

Rent: The Local Norway devotes an article to the rules applicable in Norway, recalling that a landlord cannot increase the rent at will and that the adjustment is regulated.

Hiring: an employer cannot ask a candidate about their nationality or ethnic origin during a job interview, except for exceptions provided by law (The Local Norway).

Personal data: a Microsoft subsidiary was sanctioned by Norwegian authorities for sharing data of users of the Grindr app (The Local Norway).

Working life: a survey reported by The Local Norway points to a rise in stress among workers, despite the country's reputation for work-life balance.

Sources: NRK Oslo, Aftenposten, The Local Norway — Period: 12 October 2026 and 13 October 2026