The current government’s coalition, led by Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir’s Left-Green Movement, won its mandate on a promise to secure stability after Icelanders went to the polls five times from 2007 to 2017.
In 2017, the Left-Greens, which calls itself a “radical leftist party”, teamed up with unlikely partners – the pro-Business Independence Party and the centre-right Progressive Party – to the ire of some on the party’s grassroots level. .
While Jacobsdottir remains popular, polls show that his party will lose support, marking the end of their coalition. Support for the Independence Party, Iceland’s largest party, is also waning, but the election results may still give former prime minister Bjarni Benediktsson the mandate to form a new government.
A scattered political landscape would make it difficult to form a new government, but Jacobsdottir could seek a coalition with other left-wing parties, which opinion polls suggest would garner support.
“If we get such a government, we’re going to see some changes in the taxation of the rich, and the environmental questions are going to become more important,” said Baldwin Bergson, political analyst for broadcaster RUV.
Iceland has already promised to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040, well ahead of most other European countries, but young voters in particular are pushing for even more bold steps.
Left parties are also calling for more government spending on healthcare, which has been a key issue in the election.
The successful weathering of the pandemic and the lifting of coronavirus restrictions has led to the reopening of borders, giving the needed boost to the vital tourism sector, which attracted nearly 2 million foreign visitors in 2019.
“The pandemic was a major blow to the significant tourism industry,” said Stefania Oscardottir, a political scientist at the University of Iceland, adding that high public spending has fueled optimism.
“Despite coming out of a deep recession, the average Icelander thinks these are good times,” she said.
Voting opens at 04:00 EST on Saturday and closes at 17:00 EST with final results due on Sunday morning.
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