Iceland's ruling conservatives weakened in snap vote
  • 6 years ago
Iceland’s main centre-right party is leading in a snap election, but its ruling coalition appears to be falling apart, according to preliminary results released on Sunday.

The Independence Party, which has dominated Iceland’s politics for decades, is losing its grip as left-leaning parties rise. It stood to lose 4 percentage points compared to an election last year, to land 25 percent of the vote.

Incumbent Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson played down his party’s drop in the polls, saying “Elections are about getting votes. And we got the most.”

The Left-Greens came in second with about 17 percent. Their leader Katrin Jakobsdottir now looks set to secure a narrow majority in parliament by teaming up with other left-leaning parties, particularly the Social Democrats which came in third with 12 percent – almost doubling its share of the vote from a year ago.

If that fails, Jakobsdottir has not ruled out working with the newly formed Centre Party, led by former Prime Minister David Gunnlaugsson, which collected around 11 percent of the vote.

Gunnlaugsson was forced out of office last year when his name appeared in the Panama Papers tax evasion scandal.

The parliament is likely to be split between eight parties and it could take months to form a coalition government.
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