As the Best Party and the Social Democrats meet to hammer out the details of a possible majority coalition between the two for Reykjavík, the general public is invited to take part in the so-called “secret meetings” by sending suggestions through a website, betrireykjavik.is.
The site is entirely in Icelandic, for now, but through it, the general public is invited to submit suggestions and ideas to members of both the Social Democrats and the Best Party on the subject matter that the two parties are going over. They may also vote for or against ideas already submitted.
In a statement to the press, the two parties say, “In light of experience, and that new people are going to work at city hall, the Best Party and the Social Democrats intend to take their time in discussions. They ask the media to give them and the general public room to set up a solid plan for the city for the next four years.”
By law, a new coalition must be ready to start working within two weeks of the elections. Yesterday, departing members of city hall – who either did not intend to run or did not make it in – said their farewells.
The Best Party won six of Reykjavík city hall’s 15 seats last Saturday, while the Independence Party won five, the Social Democrats won three, and the Leftist-Greens won one. While Best Party chairman Jón Gnarr told reporters he was prepared to work with anybody, almost no one is predicting his party will be approaching the conservatives any time soon.