President Announces Icelandic Elections For 28 October

Today, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson announced in a press conference that elections will be held on 28 October, this makes the government of Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn, Björt Framtíð and Viðreisn the shortest sitting one in the history of Iceland.

The second shortest was the Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn lead government of Geir H. Haarde, which was in power during the financial crash of 2008.

“I met with the leaders of all parties and parliament and there was agreement that elections should be held,” said Guðni. He added that elections could have been held sooner, but that he felt that the parties needed time to prepare, and, therefore, 28 October was decided upon.

He, furthermore, announced that the current government will stay in power until the elections. However, he reiterated that its function will only be to maintain the basic functions of government and not to implement any major policy changes.

These are the third elections in four years.

The government was brought down Friday, following the decision by Björt Framtíð to back out of the three party coalition, due to the revelation that Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn had tried to cover up a letter written by Benedikt Sveinsson, the father of Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson, recommending that Hjalti Sigurjón Hauksson, who in 2004 was convicted of sexually abusing his stepdaughter for 12 years had his honour restored.