The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) restored Iceland’s voting rights after a female was appointed to the Icelandic delegation.
On Wednesday morning, Unnur Brá Konráðsdóttir, MP for the Independence Party, replaced Brynjar Níelsson, also from the Independence Party, to restore Iceland’s voting rights, which were suspended on Monday due to continued violation of a PACE mandate on gender equality.
The Icelandic delegation was scolded at the assembly in Strasbourg this past June for having no female representatives, although PACE requires national delegations to have at the very least one female representative.
Iceland’s delegation was allowed to keep its speaking and voting rights, after its representatives promised that necessary changes would be made at the “earliest opportunity.”
When three men showed up at the assembly last Monday, however, the gloves were off and the Icelandic delegation’s voting rights were suspended.
After the initial embarrassment, representative Karl Garðarsson from the Progressive Party, explained in all honesty that the gang had been fully aware of the rule against gender inequality, but the three men (himself, Brynjar Níelsson and Ögmundur Jónasson, MP for the Left Green Movement and former Minister of Human Rights) had simply not been able to agree on which one of them should give up his seat to a woman
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