From Iceland — Iceland's Next Government Could Already Be In The Works

Iceland’s Next Government Could Already Be In The Works

Published October 17, 2016

Andie Sophia Fontaine
Photo by
Art Bicnick

The Pirate Party has announced that they have ruled out forming any coalition with the Independence Party or the Progressive Party, and have already sent out the call to other opposition parties to start talks on working out a common platform for a new coalition.

Stundin reports that, at a press conference held yesterday, the Pirates said that corruption within the ruling parties has created a “political impossibility” that they could ever form a coalition together. As such, they have reached out to the Left-Greens, Social Democrats, Bright Future and Viðreisn, calling upon them to start talks on building a possible coalition, which could take power after elections are held on October 29.

RÚV reports that the reaction from leadership of these opposition parties has been overall positive.

Oddný G. Harðardóttir and Katrín Jakobsdóttir, chairpersons of the Social Democrats and the Left-Greens respectively, both said that their parties have always been open to aligning with other opposition parties in the formation of a new government. Óttarr Proppé and Benedikt Jóhannesson, chairpersons of Bright Future and Viðreisn, took a more cautious tone, saying they were open to anyone who shares their key platform positions.

According to the most recent Gallup poll on the matter, the Pirates have the second-highest level of support of all parties, after the Independence Party, while the Left-Greens have steadily risen in the polls. While the Social Democrats have been struggling to get above double-digit levels, Viðreisn has risen to third, while Bright Future – despite hovering for a long time in the lower single-digits – have been very recently gradually gaining more support.

Related:

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