Reykjavik (Iceland): Icelanders are electing a brand new parliament Saturday after disagreements over immigration, power coverage and the economic system pressured Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson to drag the plug on his coalition authorities and name an early election. That is Iceland’s sixth basic election for the reason that 2008 monetary disaster devastated the economic system of the North Atlantic island nation and ushered in a brand new period of political instability.
Opinion polls counsel the nation could also be in for an additional upheaval, with help for the three governing events plunging. Benediktsson, who was named prime minister in April following the resignation of his predecessor, struggled to carry collectively the unlikely coalition of his conservative Independence Occasion with the centrist Progressive Occasion and the Left-Inexperienced Motion.
Iceland, a nation of about 400,000 folks, is pleased with its democratic traditions, describing itself as arguably the world’s oldest parliamentary democracy. The island’s parliament, the Althingi, was based in 930 by the Norsemen who settled the nation. Fierce climate within the sub-Arctic nation threatened to hamper some voters attending to polling stations on Saturday, with heavy snow blocking roads in lots of areas. The climate might additionally delay the supply of poll bins to counting centres after polls shut at 10 pm (2200GMT).
Here is what to search for within the contest.
How does the election work?
Voters will select 63 members of the Althingi in an election that can allocate seats each by regional constituencies and proportional illustration. Events want at the very least 5% of the vote to win seats in parliament. Eight events have been represented within the outgoing parliament, and 10 events are contesting this election.
Turnout is historically excessive by worldwide requirements, with 80% of registered voters casting ballots within the 2021 parliamentary election.
Why now?
A windswept island close to the Arctic Circle, Iceland usually holds elections through the hotter months of the 12 months. However on Oct 13 Benediktsson determined his coalition could not final any longer, and he requested President Halla Tómasdóttir to dissolve the Althingi. “The weak point of this society is that we have now no very robust social gathering and we have now no very robust chief of any social gathering,” mentioned Vilhjálmur Bjarnason a former member of parliament. “We’ve no charming individual with a imaginative and prescient… That could be very troublesome for us.”
Why is Iceland’s politics so fractured?
The splintering of Iceland’s political panorama got here after the 2008 monetary disaster, which prompted years of financial upheaval after the nation’s debt-swollen banks collapsed. The disaster led to anger and mistrust of the events that had historically traded energy forwards and backwards, and prompted the creation of latest events starting from the setting centered Left-Inexperienced Alliance to the Pirate Occasion, which advocates direct democracy and particular person freedoms.
“This is likely one of the penalties of the financial crash,” mentioned Eva H Önnudóttir, a professor of political science on the College of Iceland. “It is simply the modified panorama. Events, particularly the previous events, have perhaps sort of been hoping that we might return to how issues have been earlier than, however that is not going to occur.”
What are the problems?
Like many Western international locations, Iceland has been buffeted by the rising price of dwelling and immigration pressures. Inflation peaked at an annual price of 10.2% in February 2023, fuelled by the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Whereas inflation slowed to five.1% in October, that’s nonetheless excessive in contrast with neighbouring international locations. The US inflation price stood at 2.6% final month, whereas the European Union’s price was 2.3%.
Iceland can be struggling to accommodate a rising variety of asylum-seekers, creating tensions throughout the small, historically homogenous nation. The variety of immigrants looking for safety in Iceland jumped to greater than 4,000 in every of the previous three years, in contrast with a earlier common of lower than 1,000.
What concerning the volcano?
Repeated eruptions of a volcano within the southwestern a part of the nation have displaced 1000’s of individuals and strained public funds. One 12 months after the primary eruption pressured the evacuation of the city of Grindavik, many residents nonetheless haven’t got safe housing, resulting in complaints that the federal government has been gradual to reply.
However it additionally added to a scarcity of reasonably priced housing exacerbated by Iceland’s tourism increase. Younger individuals are struggling to get a foot on the housing ladder at a time when short-term trip leases have diminished the housing inventory out there for locals, Önnudóttir mentioned.
