Councilperson Resigns From Party Over “Nationalist Populism”

A Progressive city councilperson has resigned from the party due to what he called “nationalist populism” being used to get votes.

“The reason is due to nationalist populism that thrives in the Progressives which I have nothing in common with,” Kópavogur city councilperson Ómar Stefánsson told Kópavogsfréttir.

Later reached by DV, Ómar elaborated on his point.

“I just wasn’t happy with the reaction of party leadership to what the Reykjavík city council candidate [Sveinbjörg Birna Sveinbjörnsdóttir] and the party there were doing,” he said. “This is not a path I wish to take, and I don’t want to belong to a party that went this way during campaign season.”

While Ómar says that he believes his party has done a lot of good for Kópavogur, “that doesn’t change the fact that I want nothing to do with this.”

As reported, anti-Muslim rhetoric was a prominent feature of the Progressive Party municipal election campaign in Reykjavík, in particular when Sveinbjörg said she would revoke a plot of land the city of Reykjavík granted for the building of a mosque.

Post-elections, Sveinbjörg reversed her position on the mosque issue, adding that any Islamophobes who voted for her “bet on the wrong horse”.