The leadership of the Confederacy of Icelandic Labor Unions (ASÍ)
yesterday decided to postpone labor talks with the government until
June. In the meantime, it is hoped that there will be new elections in the spring and that tri-level talks between labor, government and management can commence anew.
The possibility of new elections in the spring grows nearer, as the Reykjavík branch of the Social Democratic party voted overwhelmingly last night in favor of breaking the power-sharing agreement with the Conservative Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) and hold elections in the spring. Earlier, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the new chairman of the Progressive Party (Framsókn) told reporters that his party would support a leftist government comprised of Social Democrats, the Leftist-Greens (Vinstri-Grænn) and his own party. Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde has continuously asserted that the government is sound.