{"id":46424,"date":"2021-09-25T08:24:58","date_gmt":"2021-09-25T08:24:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=46424"},"modified":"2021-09-25T08:24:58","modified_gmt":"2021-09-25T08:24:58","slug":"iceland-votes-amid-splintered-political-landscape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=46424","title":{"rendered":"Iceland votes amid splintered political landscape"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Iceland votes in an election that could see its unprecedented left-right coalition lose its majority, despite bringing four years of stability after a decade of crises.<\/p>\n

With the political landscape more splintered than ever, the process of forming a new coalition could be more complicated than in the past after Saturday\u2019s polls.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, whose Left-Green Movement had never led a government before, is seeking a second mandate but the large number of parties could get in her way.<\/p>\n

Iceland\u2019s parliament Althing, the oldest in the world, has 63 seats, which means at least 32 seats are needed for a majority government.<\/p>\n

Opinion polls suggest a record nine parties out of 10 are expected to win seats in the Althing, Iceland\u2019s almost 1,100-year-old parliament. That makes it particularly tricky to predict which parties could end up forming a coalition.<\/p>\n

With 33 of 63 seats, the outgoing coalition is a mix of the conservative Independence Party, the centre-right Progressive Party, and the Left-Green Movement.<\/p>\n

Some opinion polls suggest the current coalition will manage to secure a narrow majority but others say it will fail.<\/p>\n

Keeping the peace<\/h2>\n

While Jakobsdottir is broadly popular, her party is hovering about 10-12 percent in the polls and risks losing several seats.<\/p>\n

During her four-year term, Jakobsdottir has introduced a progressive income tax system, increased the social housing budget and extended parental leave for both parents.<\/p>\n

She has also been hailed for her handling of the COVID crisis, with just 33 deaths in the country of 370,000.<\/p>\n

But she has also had to make concessions to keep the peace in her coalition, including a promise to create a national park in central Iceland that is home to 32 active volcano systems and 400 glaciers.<\/p>\n

People walk past an election poster from the Left-Green Movement showing Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir [Brynjar Gunnarsson\/AP Photo]<\/figure>\n

Five polls in 10 years<\/h2>\n

This is only the second time since 2008 that a government has made it to the end of its four-year mandate on the sprawling island.<\/p>\n

Deep public distrust of politicians amid repeated scandals sent Icelanders to the polls five times from 2007 to 2017.<\/p>\n

The Independence Party, which polls credit with about 20-24 percent of the vote, also risks losing seats but is expected to remain the largest political party.<\/p>\n

Its leader, Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson, is a former prime minister who comes from a family that has long held power on the right. He is eyeing the post of prime minister again.<\/p>\n

Benediktsson has survived several political scandals, including being implicated in the 2016 Panama Papers<\/a> leak that revealed offshore tax havens, and is standing in his fifth election.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m optimistic, I feel supported,\u201d he told a campaign rally this week, insisting his party would continue to be \u201cthe backbone of the next government\u201d.<\/p>\n

But there are five other parties all hot on his heels, credited with 10 to 15 percent of votes.<\/p>\n

They are the Left-Green Movement, the Progressive Party, the Social Democratic Alliance, the libertarian Pirate Party, and the centre-right Reform Party. A new Socialist Party is also expected to put in a strong showing.<\/p>\n

\u2018Land of Fire and Ice\u2019<\/h2>\n

A shattered political landscape will make it difficult to form a new government, but Jakobsdottir may seek a coalition with other left-wing parties that opinion polls suggest will gain support.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we get such a government, we are going to see some changes when it comes to taxation of the rich, and environmental questions are going to be more important,\u201d said Baldvin Bergsson, a political analyst at broadcaster RUV.<\/p>\n

Climate change is an important issue for Icelanders, who like to call their nation the \u201cLand of Fire and Ice\u201d because of its other-worldly landscape of volcanoes and glaciers.<\/p>\n

Iceland has already pledged to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, well ahead of most other European nations, but especially younger voters are pushing for even bolder steps.<\/p>\n

Left-wing parties are also calling for more government spending on healthcare, which has been the most important topic in the election.<\/p>\n

Successful weathering of the pandemic and the lifting of coronavirus restrictions has reopened borders, providing a needed boost to the vital tourism sector, which attracted some two million foreign visitors in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe pandemic was a huge blow to the important tourism industry,\u201d said Stefania Oskarsdottir, a political scientist at the University of Iceland, adding high public spending has fuelled optimism.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite coming out of a deep recession, the average Icelander feels that these are good times,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Polls open at 9am (09:00 GMT). First results are expected on Saturday, shortly after voting stations close at 10pm (22:00 GMT), but a clear picture is not expected until Sunday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Iceland votes in an election that could see its unprecedented left-right coalition lose its majority, despite bringing four years of stability after a decade of crises. With the political landscape more splintered than ever, the process of forming a new coalition could be more complicated than in the past after Saturday\u2019s polls. Prime Minister Katrin…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spotlight_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}