Iceland could be on course for the second left-leaning government in its history, after the ruling right-wing coalition lost its majority in a tightly-fought election.
After the Nordic island’s second snap poll in a year, the conservative Independence party of outgoing Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson remains the Althing parliament’s largest. But it lost five of its 21 seats, opening the door for its main opponent, the Left-Green Movement, to form a coalition.
The election followed a string of political scandals, most recently an alleged attempt by Benediktsson to cover up efforts by his father to help “restore the honour” of a convicted child sex offender.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Earlier this month, The Guardian revealed that Benediktsson sold millions of krona of assets in a major Icelandic bank’s investment fund just as the state was about to seize control of the country’s failing financial sector in 2008.
Sunday’s vote came just ten months after the last election, prompted by the resignation of former prime minister Sigmundur Davíd Gunnlaugsson, who stepped down after revelations in the Panama Papers that his family had sheltered money offshore.
It is now up to Left-Green Movement party leader Katrin Jakobsdottir to forge a left-of-centre alliance with the Social Democrats, the Progressive Party and the Pirate Party, which would together hold 32 seats – the slimmest possible majority in the 63-seat Althing.
-
Bulgaria is the latest government to fall amid mass protestsThe Explainer The country’s prime minister resigned as part of the fallout
-
Femicide: Italy’s newest crimeThe Explainer Landmark law to criminalise murder of a woman as an ‘act of hatred’ or ‘subjugation’ but critics say Italy is still deeply patriarchal
-
Brazil’s Bolsonaro behind bars after appeals run outSpeed Read He will serve 27 years in prison
-
Americans traveling abroad face renewed criticism in the Trump eraThe Explainer Some of Trump’s behavior has Americans being questioned
-
Nigeria confused by Trump invasion threatSpeed Read Trump has claimed the country is persecuting Christians
-
Sanae Takaichi: Japan’s Iron Lady set to be the country’s first woman prime ministerIn the Spotlight Takaichi is a member of Japan’s conservative, nationalist Liberal Democratic Party
-
Russia is ‘helping China’ prepare for an invasion of TaiwanIn the Spotlight Russia is reportedly allowing China access to military training
-
Interpol arrests hundreds in Africa-wide sextortion crackdownIN THE SPOTLIGHT A series of stings disrupts major cybercrime operations as law enforcement estimates millions in losses from schemes designed to prey on lonely users
