After political scandals, Icelanders head back to polls

REYKJAVIK: Icelanders were voting Saturday in the second snap election in a year marked by deep distrust in the scandal-hit political class despite a thriving economy bolstered by booming tourism, reports AFP.

Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson of the conservative Independence Party called the vote last month after a junior member of the three-party centre-right coalition quit over a legal dispute involving his father.

Saturday's election is Iceland's fourth since 2008.

Opinion polls published Friday by public broadcaster RUV and the daily Morgunbladid show the Independence Party could win 17 seats in the 63-seat parliament, the Althingi.

The rival Left-Green Movement and its potential partners -- the Social Democratic Alliance and the anti-establishment Pirate Party -- would together win 29 seats, short of an outright majority.

But with help from a fourth party, they could dethrone the centre-right and become Iceland's second left-leaning government since its independence from Denmark in 1944.

 

After political scandals, Icelanders head back to polls

REYKJAVIK: Icelanders were voting Saturday in the second snap election in a year marked by deep distrust in the scandal-hit political class despite a thriving economy bolstered by booming tourism, reports AFP. Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson of the conservative Independence Party called the vote last month after a junior member of the three-party centre-right coalition quit over a legal dispute involving his father. Saturdays election is Icelands fourth since 2008. Opinion polls published Friday by public broadcaster RUV and the daily Morgunbladid show the Independence Party could win 17 seats in the 63-seat parliament, the Althingi. The rival Left-Green Movement and its potential partners -- the Social Democratic Alliance and the anti-establishment Pirate Party -- would together win 29 seats, short of an outright majority. But with help from a fourth party, they could dethrone the centre-right and become Icelands second left-leaning government since its independence from Denmark in 1944.