The state coalition is in the process of retaining its majority

The left-right coalition in power in Iceland is on track to retain a majority after Saturday’s October 25 parliamentary elections, but Prime Minister Catherine Jacobstotter’s environmental left movement appears to be weaker compared to its two right – wing allies.

At 3:30 a.m. Sunday, Paris time, according to the latest estimates, the coalition has secured 41 of the 63 seats in parliament, with one-third of the vote counted.

While not sure if the three parties will rule together and knowing that negotiations are traditionally long overdue, Iceland’s elections seem to be moving away from the dreaded political stalemate. After the spectacular bankruptcy of Icelandic banks in 2008 and the severe crisis that followed, the outgoing Icelandic government did not retain its majority.

The Progressive Party overtook the left-green movement

With 17.2% of the vote, the big winner in the evening will be the Progressive Party (center right), pleasing M’s left-green movement^Me Jacobstottir (14.5%) is the second largest party in Iceland, following in the footsteps of former Prime Minister Jorney Benedict (25.9%) and the Conservative Freedom Party (Conservative).

According to this more partial number, the latter will receive 18 (+2) of Iceland’s thousand-year-old parliament out of 63 seats in Altingi. Sikurdur Ingi Johnson’s Progressives will win 13 seats, five more than in the previous 2017 elections. The left-green movement will drop from four seats to ten seats.

If the future of the coalition is uncertain, all three party leaders agreed to start talks if they can maintain a majority in government, which was threatened by a referendum. The weakening of the prime minister, however, raises the question of his future in the moderate White House of Stjornard, where Icelandic heads of government sit.

“We need to see how much the ruling parties as a whole are going to do and what we are going to do. According to these preliminary decisions, we are losing a little bit of land and the progressives are increasing.”, He commented to the Agencies France-Press (AFP) in the evening.

Since 2017, the latter has made taxes more progressive, investing in community housing and extended parental leave. His Govt administration – only 33 dead – was praised. But this rare left-wing ecologist in power had to give up defending his alliance as he had promised to create a national park in the country’s coalition.

“Does not tilt to the left”

Enthusiasm ruled at the headquarters of the Progressive Party. Movement “Leading back in the political scene”, Its leader Sikurdur Ingi Johnson started in the presence of his activists. “I don’t see it leaning to the left”, For its part its chairman Bazerni Benedict, former prime minister and current finance minister. He survived several scandals, including the Panama Papers in 2016, and finally consolidated his position as the polls promised him a collapse.

After a decade of crisis and corruption, the outgoing coalition marked the return of political stability in Iceland. This is the second time since the 2008 financial crisis that banks and many Icelanders have been wiped out.

Five legislative elections were held between 2007 and 2017 in a country that is not a member of the European Union, in the wake of the political class’s distrust of the financial crisis and continued corruption. Electoral spread has increased during this period. Ultimately, eight parties will be represented in parliament, in 2017, and not the nine registered announced by ballot.