According to the report “Country Report Iceland November 2009” available at http://www.reportbuyer.com/go/EIU00836 the Icelandic general election in April 2009 resulted in victory for a centre-left coalition comprising the Social Democratic Alliance (SDA) and the Left-Green Movement (LGM). The Independence Party (IP), which had been the dominant governing party for several decades before being forced out of office in January 2009, was kept in opposition. After negotiations on policy, including a decision to seek to start talks on EU membership, a new government was formally installed in May, led by the prime minister, Johanna Sigurdardottir (SDA). It has a narrow overall majority, with 34 of the 63 seats in the Althingi (parliament). Ms Sigurdardottir is having to work closely with the leader of the LGM and minister of finance, Steingrimur Sigfusson in introducing unpopular measures viewed as necessary to deal with the crisis that the government inherited.
The new government has held together through many difficult negotiations over such measures and the thorny issue of compensation to the UK and the Netherlands governments to repay insured depositors with Icesave, the online branch of a failed bank, Landsbanki (see Economic policy). The Economist Intelligence Unit's central forecast is that the coalition will continue to hold together despite substantial differences between the parties and an unwillingness of some LGM members of parliament (MPs) to go along with the compromises agreed by the LGM members of the government. However, this forecast is subject to significant risk.
The two main opposition parties, the IP and the Progressive Party (PP), which together have 25 seats (excluding four independents), are expected gradually to build themselves up into a coherent alternative government. The former leading government party, the IP, was most strongly blamed for the banking collapse and suffered sharp losses at the April election, receiving just 24% of the vote (down from 37% in 2007) and 16 seats. However, it has made a break with the past under its new leader, Bjarni Benediktsson, and is recouping some of the support that it lost. The centrist PP has nine seats in parliament, having fared better than expected at the election. The Civic Movement (CM), a new party formed prior to the election, had four MPs elected under its banner, but all four have since left the CM.
The report “Country Report Iceland November 2009 Updater” is available from Report Buyer at:
http://www.reportbuyer.com/countries/europe/country_repo ...
Report Buyer product ID: EIU00836
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Source:prlog.org/
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