Rita Irene Ottervik (born 11 September 1966 in

Hitra Municipality Hitra is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The municipality covers the Hitra (island), island of Hitra and hundreds of smaller islands, islets, and Skerry, skerries as well as an ar ...

) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party who served as the mayor of Trondheim from 2003 to 2023.

Political career

Early career

She has served as a secretary in the Workers' Youth League and political advisor at the Office of the Prime Minister under

Thorbjørn Jagland Thorbjørn Jagland ( né Johansen; , 5 November 1950) is a Norwegian politician from the Labour Party. He served as the secretary general of the Council of Europe from 2009 to 2019. He served as the prime minister of Norway from 1996 to 1997, a ...

(1996–1997). She was elected as a member 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 ...

Trondheim Municipality Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populou ...

in 1999, and sat for four years before becoming mayor.

Government consideration

Ottervik was considered a candidate for a cabinet post following the elections of 2005 and 2009, but she declined the offers on both occasions in favor of continuing her tenure as mayor.

Mayor of Trondheim

Ottervik became mayor of Trondheim following the 2003 local elections, with the Socialist Left's Knut Fagerbakke as deputy mayor. The duo led Trondheim for the first twelve years of Ottervik's tenure, during which they were re-elected in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. Fagerbakke retired at the 2015 local election and was replaced by the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

's Hilde Opoku. Opoku went on leave in 2017 to assist a humanitarian mission in

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

and was replaced by Ola Lund Renolen, who held the position until 2019 when Opoku decided to permanently continue her mission in Ghana. Ottervik was re-elected in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

with the Socialist Left's Mona Berger as deputy mayor. In 2022, Ottervik announced that she wouldn't be seeking re-election in the 2023 local elections. Following the 2023 local elections, she was succeeded by the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilizati ...

' Kent Ranum.

Personal life

Ottervik is married to fellow Labour Party politician Tore Nordseth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ottervik, Rita 1966 births Living people People from Hitra Mayors of Trondheim Labour Party (Norway) politicians Women mayors of places in Norway 20th-century Norwegian women politicians 20th-century Norwegian politicians