 The debate about the future of the trams had been going on through the late 1970s, in general with the left side of the city council supporting the tram while the right side wanted to close it down.After the city council election in 1979 the Progress Party got its first representative in the city council, Hildur Karstensen, who was a tram driver for TT.Though the Conservative mayor, Axel Buch, was expected to be re-elected, Kristiansen chose to support the Labour candidate Olav Gjærevoll, in the hope that a socialist majority would ensure the future of the trams, and thus making Gjærevoll mayor.