Kjersti Markusson is a Norwegian politician for the Socialist Left Party

Socialist Left Party (Norway)

The Socialist Left Party or SV, is a Norwegian left-wing political party. At one point one of the smallest parties in Parliament, it became the fourth-largest political party in Norway for the first time in the 2001 parliamentary election, and has been so ever since...

.

She has spent most of her professional career in the school system, and has been active in the trade union Union of Education Norway. She was first elected to Evenes

Evenes

Evenes is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Ofoten region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Bogen.The old municipality of Ofoten was split into Evenes and Ankenes on 1 January 1884...

 municipal council in 1991, and has been re-elected several times. She has also been a member of Nordland

Nordland

is a county in Norway in the North Norway region, bordering Troms in the north, Nord-Trøndelag in the south, Norrbottens län in Sweden to the east, Västerbottens län to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. The county was formerly known as Nordlandene amt. The county administration is...

 county council

County council (Norway)

A County Council is the highest governing body of the county municipalities in Norway. The county council sets the scope of the county municipal activity. The council is led by a chairman or county mayor...

.

When the second cabinet Stoltenberg

Second cabinet Stoltenberg

Stoltenberg's Second Cabinet is the current government of Norway. Appointed on 17 October 2005, it is a coalition between the Labour Party, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party, known as the Red–Green Coalition. The cabinet has ten members from the Labour Party, five from the Socialist...

 assumed office following the 2005 election, she was appointed State Secretary

State Secretary (Norway)

In Norway, a State Secretary is a partisan political position within the executive branch of government. Contrary to the position Secretary of State in many other countries, the Norwegian State Secretary does not head his or her Ministry, rather, they are second in rank to a Minister...

 in the Ministry of Finance

Norwegian Ministry of Finance

The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Finance is a Norwegian ministry established in 1814. The ministry is responsible for state finance, including the state budget, taxation and economic policy in Norway. It is led by Sigbjørn Johnsen...

. In October 2007 she changed to the Office of the Prime Minister

Norwegian Office of the Prime Minister

The Norwegian Office of the Prime Minister is a political and bureaucratic office that assists the Cabinet of Norway and the Prime Minister of Norway in the leadership of the Cabinet and Government. It has since 2005 been led by Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg . Minister and Chief of Staff is Karl...

.