Shortly after the County Council meeting started in Svolvær Monday morning, Odd Eriksen made his announcement.
“I would like to announce that I will resign as County Governor today. As a consequence of this the entire County Council resigns. This means that the County Mayor must appoint a new candidate to form a new County Council,” Eriksen said.
There have been controversies about Eriksen as Governor, especially after he late last year by a fellow council politician was accused of sexual harassments of female county council members. Both the NRK Nordland and Avisa Nordland today report that Odd Eriksen was shown the door by his own colleagues in the Labor Party in Nordland.
Eriksen himself says to Avisa Nordland that he doesn’t want to comment on the specifics in the case. “I don’t want to contribute to wash dirty laundry in public, not least for the sake of my family,” he says.
Odd Eriksen was appointed Governor of Nordland in 2006 after he resigned as Norway’s Minister of Trade and Industry.
