The voters go to the polls in Iceland on 9 May to elect a new Parliament. The current government fell in the last few days as Iceland is buffetted by the winds of the economic crisis. The last election, in 2007, saw the centre-right government of the right-wing Independence Party and the centrist Progressive Party lose ground. A new coalition government was formed with the centre-left Social Democratic Alliance.
For more on the upcoming election, our special Iceland correspondent Oz has more in comments:
The government of Iceland has resigned and the PM has asked the President to call a snap election. Talks are currently underway regarding the election date but the most likely appears to be some time in early May. The catalyst for the resignation of the government was the financial crisis, which has hit Iceland very hard and shredded their economy, predicted to shrink by up to 10% this year.
Now you’d expect the opposition party to capitalise on the current woes and strong anti-government sentiments, which have led to violent protests, but the irony is that Iceland’s two major political parties are in a grand coalition together, after the centre-right Independence Party’s (who achieved a plurality of votes) traditional partner, the Progressive Party got hammered. Due to the PR system, a coalition was inevitable and the conservatives chose to side with the main left bloc, the Social Democratic Alliance, rather then the radical Left-Green Movement.
The Left-Green Movement, as the third largest bloc in parliament, is the de facto opposition and has been gaining popularity at the expense of the major parties and by feeding on strong anti-market sentiments in Iceland.
A poll out last weekend put the Independence Party at 22%, down from 36.6% at the last election. The SDA were at 19%, down from 26.8% and the Left-Green Movement polled an incredible 32.6% up from 14% at the last election, making it potentially the biggest party in parliament.
The Left-Green’s were created when Iceland’s left-wing political parties got together in the later 90’s to create the SDA, which was viewed by some leftists as too conservative.
It’s policy platform is a mixture of traditional European socialism and Green values like environmentalism, grass roots democracy, non-violence and social justice.
So to explain my excitement – In a few months we may see the first environmentalist party forming government as a majority coalition partner anywhere in the world.
A few clarifications: the Icelandic Left-Green Movement isn’t affiliated with either the Global Greens or the European Green Party (which cover most parties using the name “Green”). The movement is rather aligned with the Nordic Green Left, who are considered to be more socialist in origin. It’s a bit like how Socialist Alliance calls its newspaper “Green Left Weekly”. There is another Icelandic environmentalist party which polled 3% in 2007.
The last point is an important distinction, but if the Left-Greens do get up, it’s an enormous step for the “green” movement generally, especially as the Left-Green’s have “Conservation of the environment” as their number one policy. The feminist “Women’s Party” played a central role in its creation, so I think it’s broader in scope and more sincere about its environmental and social justice credentials then other socialist parties with Green tacked onto the end.
The threshold for getting seats in Iceland is 5% and there’s a good chance of “Living Land” (the other environmentalist party) getting that this time around, though it seems the vast majority of the left/green vote has gone straight to the Left-Greens (funnily enough).
The Progressive Party, who are the Independence Party’s traditional coalition partners are also way up on 17%, so it’s not possible to completely rule out an Indepedence/Progressive coalition yet, especially since the sitting Independence PM is retiring.
So whaling has been in the news lately. Iceland’s outgoing Minister for Agriculture recently raised Iceland’s whaling quota. Iceland and Norway are the only countries that practice commercial whaling. As the Left-Greens are opposed to whaling, soon it’ll just be Norway.
In other news (perhaps more relevant) the President of Iceland has asked the SDA and the Left-Greens to form an interim government until elections can take place.
New interim Iceland PM is the first (openly) gay leader in the world.