Ingvald Godal (26 October 1934 – 28 January 2019) was a Norwegian politician for the Centre Party and later the Conservative Party. For the former party he was a State Secretary as well as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Vinje Vinje is a municipality in Telemark county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Vest-Telemark which is part of Øvre Telemark. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Åmot. Other villages in the muni ...

; for the latter party he served four terms in the

Norwegian Parliament The Storting ( ; ) 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 based on party-list proportional represe ...

. He was also involved in various organizations, most latterly the Norwegian Support Committee for Chechnya.

Professional career

Born in Aker as the son of a

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

and a teacher, he took his secondary education at Hamar Cathedral School in 1953. He spent one year in the

His Majesty The King's Guard His Majesty The King's Guard () is a royal guard battalion of the Norwegian Army. The battalion has two main roles; it serves as the Norwegian King's bodyguards, guarding the royal residences (the Royal Palace in Oslo, Bygdøy Kongsgård and Skau ...

before enrolling in higher education. In 1959 he graduated from the

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

as an engineer. During his time here, he had chaired the British chapter of the Alliance of Norwegian Students Abroad from 1957 to 1959. From 1960 to 1965 he worked for the Ministry of Works in the Northern Region, at that time a federal division of

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, and from 1965 to 1969 he worked for Norconsult in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

and other countries. From 1969 to 1970 he worked with civil relief during the

Nigerian Civil War The Nigerian Civil War (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), also known as the Biafran War, Nigeria-Biafra War, or Biafra War, was fought between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a Secession, secessionist state which had declared its independen ...

. He then spent one year in Asplan before settling in Vinje, Telemark to run a private business. Ultimately, from 1982 to 1985, he was chief administrative officer in Vinje municipality.

Political career

A member of the Centre Party, he was appointed State Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment in 1972, when the

cabinet Korvald Korvald's Cabinet governed Norway between 18 October 1972 and 16 October 1973. The centre cabinet was led by Lars Korvald as Prime Minister and consisted of the Christian Democratic Party, the Centre Party and the Liberal Party The Liberal Pa ...

assumed office. He lost this job when the cabinet Korvald fell following the 1973 election. However, he was elected mayor of Vinje municipality in 1975, and served through one four-year term. He was then 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, borough cou ...

for three years, sitting in the executive committee. He had chaired the local party chapter in Oslo from 1969 to 1971, and chaired the regional chapter in Telemark from 1979 to 1981. During both these periods he was a member of the national board of the Centre Party. Godal was elected to the

from

Telemark Telemark () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway. Telemark borders the counties of Vestfold, Buskerud, Vestland, Rogaland and Agder. In 2020, Telemark merged with the county of Vestfold to form the county o ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, but had changed his allegiance to the Conservative Party. He was re-elected in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

and

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, finally retiring ahead of the 2001 election. During the first term he was a member of the Standing Committee on Energy and Industry. In 1989 he changed to the Standing Committee on Defence, as well as serving one month as a member of the Enlarged Foreign Affairs Committee. During the last two terms he was a full member of both these committees. Godal was previously involved in defence politics as vice president of the pro-

military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...

organization from 1985 to 1987. He also chaired the regional chapter of the

Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities The Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities () is an employers' organisation in Norway. It was founded in 1972 as a merger between the Union of Norwegian Cities (''Norges Byforbund'', founded in 1903) and the Norwegian Associati ...

from 1975 to 1979, the nationwide

hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, ...

interest group Nationwide Association of Hydropower Municipalities from 1977 to 1985, and the Norwegian Support Committee for Chechnya from 2002 to 2007 of which he was a board member. He published several non-fiction books about different countries. His 2003 book ''Tsjetsjenia: der enkene blir selvmordsbombere'' () included a preface written by

Anna Politkovskaya Anna Stepanovna Politkovskaya (; 30 August 1958 – 7 October 2006) was a Russians, Russian investigative journalist who reported on political and social events in Russia, in particular, the Second Chechen War (1999–2005). It was her repor ...

. Godal was decorated Commander of the

Order for Merits to Lithuania The Order for Merits to Lithuania () is an award, presented by the President of Lithuania, which may be conferred on the citizens of Lithuania and foreign nationals for distinguished services promoting name of Lithuania, expanding a develop interna ...

in 2012. In January 2015, he participated in the first Pegida march in Oslo, stating that Norway was "flooded" by Muslim immigrants. He died on 28 January 2019 at the age of 84.

Selected works

* * * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godal, Ingvald 1934 births 2019 deaths Alumni of Heriot-Watt University Centre Party (Norway) politicians Conservative Party (Norway) politicians Hamar Katedralskole alumni Mayors of places in Telemark Members of the Storting 1997–2001 Members of the Storting 1993–1997 Members of the Storting 1989–1993 Members of the Storting 1985–1989 Norwegian critics of Islam Norwegian non-fiction writers Norwegian state secretaries Pegida activists Writers about Africa