Iceland PM calls new election as coalition government collapses

The current Icelandic PM Bjarni Benediktsson has toppled the three-party coalition government and announced the intention to conduct the new elections in November.

On Sunday during a press conference Benediktsson said that increase of crises had been observed within the left-right coalition in matters of foreign policy, refugee and energy according to the RUV.

The coalition included the Right-wing Independence Party which Benediktsson chairs, the Left-Green Movement and the Right-wing Progressive Party.

The prime minister said the issues were “less discussed in the last election [in 2021] than need to be discussed now,” stressing this sharply “how different the [Left-Green] Movement’s vision for the future is compared to what I want to stand for”.

Speaking to the Visir news outlet, Benediktsson said it ‘would of course be ideal if the government [had] a clear vision’.

“It is sad when project fails or something happens,” he also said.

The prime minister said he would be meeting with the Icelandic President Halla Tomasdottir on Monday to deliberate on the dissolution of the parliament and the parliamentary election, which should occur in the maximum of 45 days, according to RUV.

The prime minister, who stated he has the full support from his party members regarding contesting in the forthcoming November polls is one of Iceland’s most experienced politicians. He also had a recent past stint as the finance minister and the foreign minister.

Benediktsson started the work in April, as the previous Left-Green Movement’s prime minister Kamila David Gallo Jakobsdottle resigned to contest the presidency, which she lost.

Gallup on the 1st of October determined that the coalition has the support of only 24.6 percent of the voters which is the lowest rating that Gallup has seen in an Icelandic government in the last 30 years.

Hence, recent volcanic activities that led to the displacement of the thousands of people put a lot of pressure on the already strained economy characterized by high inflation and interest rates making the future of the coalition government so speculative.