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On June 16, Moxnes (41) visited a duty-free shop at Oslo International Airport. There he tried on a pair of Hugo Boss glasses, after which he put them in his jacket pocket without paying. The theft was filmed by a camera. A guard then confronted Moxnes about the theft, after which a report was made. The party leader still had to pay 108 euros for the glasses. He was then fined 270 euros.
About the Author
Jeroen Visser is correspondent in Scandinavia and Finland for by Volkskrant. He lives in Stockholm. Previously, he was a correspondent in Southeast Asia. He is the author of the book North Korea never says sorry.
Moxnes initially defended himself by stating that he forgot to pay for the glasses. He authorized the dissemination of CCTV images. However, the police report speaks of a deliberate act. In early July, Moxnes fell ill. On Monday, the politician wrote on Facebook that he was resigning. “A lot of people have asked me how I could have done such a stupid thing. I’ve been wondering that for a few weeks. I don’t have a good explanation for it.
Dial threshold
Moxnes led the party for eleven years. At that time, Rødt (Red) was attracting more and more votes. In September 2021, the party managed to cross the 4% electoral threshold for the first time. No new party had managed to do that for decades. Now the Marxists have eight representatives in the Norwegian parliament.
The party is fighting growing economic inequality in Norway and is in favor of higher inheritance and wealth taxes. “There are two big lies in and about Norway. The first is: everyone is rich. The second is that there is no inequality here,” Rødt MP Mímir Kristjánsson said last year in a conversation with by Volkskrant.
Moxnes is replaced by Vice President Marie Sneve Martinussen. She said Monday that she was disappointed with Moxnes, both because of the theft and because he initially lied about the incident. “I’m angry and disappointed and I made that very clear to Bjørnar,” she told a press conference.
Moxnes remains a member of the party. “We need to set high standards for elected officials and political leaders. At the same time, I hope there’s room for mistakes, as long as you do it right,” he wrote.
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