From Iceland — Opposition Parties Close To Alliance

Opposition Parties Close To Alliance

Published October 27, 2016

Andie Sophia Fontaine
Photo by
Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir

Iceland’s four opposition parties have expressed the willingness to form a new ruling coalition, should elections give them the majority to do so.

RÚV reports that talks between the Pirate Party, the Left-Greens, the Social Democrats and Bright Future continued again today. The parties have been in informal talks for the past couple weeks now, although they have held their cards close to their chests on whether or not these were coalition talks.

Today, the tone of the discussions changed significantly.

“We have now in two meetings examined the primary election points of emphasis of our parties and find a lot of harmony,” Left-Green chairperson Katrín Jakobsdóttir wrote on Facebook. “We believe that these parties working together is a clear choice against the current government, which can create a new opportunity for Icelandic society. Based on this, we believe there is every reason to examine the possibility of forming a coalition if these parties are given the mandate to do so in the coming elections.”

Leaders of the other opposition parties voiced similar sentiments, with Bright Future chairperson Ottarr Proppé going as far as to say that it is “obvious” that the current ruling coalition is already defeated. In fact, recent aggregate polling has given a possible left-wing coalition a 61% chance of being able to form.

Elections are to be held this Saturday.

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