Iceland's snap election: Weather and economy shake up political landscape
Iceland faces major political shift as voters head to polls during snowstorm. Economic pressure and rising costs push citizens to seek new leadership after seven-year coalition rule
On this cold Nov 30th Icelands 384‚000 citizens are heading to voting stations despite heavy snow-fall (which might slow-down vote counting in eastern regions)
The ruling three-party coalition thats been in charge since 17ʼ looks ready to lose its grip on power. Recent opinion polls show a clear shift towards opposition parties‚ as the nations cost-of-living problems get worse; inflation rates and loan costs hit levels not seen since the 08ʼ financial crash
The countryʼs situation got more complex when several volcano-eruptions near capital made tourism drop and forced thousands to move. Plus the population grew by 20% in last decade which put extra load on housing and health-care systems: this created a perfect-storm of problems
- Left-Green Movement
- Independence Party
- Progressive Party
The current PM took over after Katrin Jakobsdottir stepped down for a failed presidential run‚ but couldnt keep coalition together due to fights about migration energy and housing. Now Kristrun Frostadottir – the 36-year old leader of Social Democrats might become the next leader
Pro-EU parties like Social Democrats and Liberal Reform are getting lots of support with polls showing they could get 40% of votes together. Frostadottir has been pushing hard on fixing economic issues: “The biggest issue here right now is cost of living“ [[Social Democratic leader stated during interview]]
