Words by

Andie Sophia Fontaine

Photo by

Halldór Sigurðsson

Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson unveiled some new trimmings to the Government Offices, and then took part in an indescribable sing-along.

To commemorate the occasion of Iceland’s Independence Day last Wednesday, the Prime Minister – accompanied by project manager Hrannar Pétursson and PR manager Sigurður Már Jónsson, amongst others – unveiled two plaques at the Government Offices indicating for the first time since the building became the Government Offices in 1904 that the building in question houses the Government Offices. Iceland’s coat of arms now also graces the building, above the front entrance.

At the unveiling’s conclusion, a sing-along of the beloved Icelandic folk song Öxar við ána begins. This unforgettable event can be seen in the video below. Despite the fact that this song is taught to Icelanders from kindergarten-age on upwards, the Prime Minister appears to either not know the text or to have temporarily forgotten it.

It should also be noted that the lyrics to the song encourage the Icelandic people to stand up and work together to build their country.

In related news, according to a new poll from MMR, support for the Progressive Party is now at 11.3%, up slightly from last month, when they were at 8.6%. Their partners in the ruling coalition, the Independence Party, dipped from 23.1% to 21.2%, and have not polled this low since just before elections in April 2013. Combined, support for the ruling coalition is at 29.4%, beating their previous record low of 31.4% the month previous.

The party with the most support remains the Pirate Party, who went from 32.7% to 34.5%, still polling higher than the two parties in the ruling coalition combined.

Where other parties are concerned, the Social Democrats went from 31.1% to 11.8%; the Left-Greens, from 10.4% to 11.1%; and Bright Future went from 6.3% to 6.7%.