RVK Newscast 183: Cat Party And Zelensky Speaks In World’s Oldest Parliament

Hello and welcome back to RVK Newscast. In this episode, Valur Grettisson, editor-in-chief of The Reykjavík Grapevine, brings you around downtown Reykjavík as well as going over the latest news: the cats running for council, Zelensky in Alþingi, and Eurovision! Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, addressed MPs in the Icelandic parliament (Alþingi) on Friday afternoon. President Zelensky appeared via videolink, and the screening was then broadcast on TV and via Alþingi’s social media platforms. This was the first time a foreign head of state delivered a speech in the Althingi. Read more here.

Municipal elections are taking place in Iceland on Saturday (14th of May). Recent polls have shown that The Pirate party are expected to do well in Reykjavík, becoming the second-biggest party after The Social Democrats, while support for The Independence Party has dropped considerably, to 16%. In Akureyri, a protest party consisting only of cat candidates has been formed, as is set to gain one seat in the local council. Read more here.

The preliminary rounds of Eurovision takes place tonight, and Iceland will be represented in Turin by a trio of sisters—Sigga, Beta & Elín with “Með hækkandi sól”. Read more here.

It’s AMA (As Me Anything) time! Join our journalists this Friday (13th of May) for our monthly live video by joining one of our membership programmes. Subscribers to the top two tiers of our High Five Club can take part in our Zoom call, and Youtube Members can watch the AMA live and send questions via the chat. Sign up to the High Five Club here, or visit our Youtube home page here to become a Member.

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