Elections ’17: Four-Party Coalition Talks Break Down

Formal coalition talks between the Left-Greens, the Social Democrats, the Progressives and the Pirates have broken down. This coalition will not be formed, sources close to Vísir report. MBL further reports that it was the Progressive Party which ended these talks.

From here, it is highly likely that Left-Green chair Katrín Jakobsdóttir will return the coalition mandate to President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, who must then choose another party chair to try and form a functional government for Iceland.

Katrín was given the mandate last Thursday, and informal talks began between her party and the Social Democrats, the Progressives and the Pirates. However, the coalition was shaky at best from the start.

Comprising only 32 seats of Iceland’s 63-seat parliament, its majority was the thinnest it could be. Further, there were a number of points of contention between the four, making the formation of a joint platform even more difficult.

The question now is who will be given the mandate, and what the next coalition will be. There are a number of possibilities where that is concerned, but as it stands now, it seems likely that Iceland’s next government will be comprised of the right wing.