REYKJAVIK — Icelanders voted on Saturday in an
election that could see its unprecedented left-right coalition lose its
majority, despite bringing four years of stability after a decade of crises.
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With the political landscape more splintered than ever, the
process of forming a new coalition could be more complicated than in the past.
Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, whose Left-Green
Movement had never led a government before, is seeking a second mandate but the
large number of parties could stand in her way.
Opinion polls suggest a record nine parties out of 10 are
expected to win seats in the Althing,
Iceland's almost 1,100-year-old
parliament.
That makes it particularly tricky to predict which parties
could end up forming a coalition.
First results were expected shortly after polling stations
close at 10pm, but a clear picture was not expected to emerge until Sunday.
After casting her ballot in a Reykjavik secondary school, Jakobsdottir
told AFP she was feeling cautiously optimistic about her chances.
"The polls haven't been too favorable for my party but
they seem to be going up."
'Different opportunities'
With 33 of 63 seats, the outgoing coalition is made up of
the conservative Independence Party, the Centre-right Progressive Party and the
Left-Green Movement.
Some opinion polls suggest it will manage to secure a very
narrow majority but others say it will fail.
"Because there are so many parties, I think there will
be a lot of different opportunities to form a government," Jakobsdottir
told AFP earlier in the week.
While she is broadly popular, her party is hovering around
10–12 percent in the polls and risks losing several seats.
During her four-year term, Jakobsdottir has introduced a
progressive income tax system, increased the social housing budget and extended
parental leave for both parents.
She has also been hailed for her handling of the COVID
crisis, with just 33 deaths in the country of 370,000.
But she has also had to make concessions to keep the peace
in her coalition, including a promise to create a national park in central
Iceland which is home to 32 active volcano systems and 400 glaciers.
She said Saturday that if returned to power, her party would
focus on the "huge challenges we face to build the economy in a more green
and sustainable way," as well addressing the climate crisis where "we
need to do radical things."
This is only the second time since 2008 that a government
has made it to the end of its four-year mandate on the sprawling island.
Deep public distrust of politicians amid repeated scandals
sent Icelanders to the polls five times from 2007 to 2017.
'Free-for-all'
The Independence Party, which polls credit with around 20–24
percent of votes, also risks losing seats but is expected to remain the largest
political party.
Its leader, Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson, is a
former prime minister who comes from a family that has long held power on the
right.
He is eyeing the post of prime minister.
Benediktsson has survived several political scandals,
including being implicated in the 2016 Panama Papers leak that revealed
offshore tax havens, and is standing in his fifth election.
"We are pretty confident. We have felt that the swing
(in opinion polls) has been in our favour over the last few days so we are very
excited for tonight and pretty optimistic," he told AFP as he cast his
ballot.
But there are five other parties all hot on his heels,
credited with 10–15 percent of votes.
They are the Left-Green Movement, the Progressive Party, the
Social Democratic Alliance, the libertarian Pirate Party and the center-right
Reform Party. A new Socialist Party is also expected to put in a strong
showing.
"There is not a clear alternative to this government.
If it falls and they can't continue, then it's just a free-for-all to create a
new coalition," political scientist Eirikur Bergmann said.
"It is challenging for the politicians but I think for
democracy it is better to have everyone at the table," Thorsteinn
Thorvaldsson, a 54-year-old voter, told AFP on the eve of the election.
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