Green Left coalition elected in Iceland

When the rightwing government stood down in January amid massive protests the social democrats and the green left formed a caretaker government. This weekend new elections confirmed the green left coalition as the ruling government.

As you can see below the Left Green Movement won 21.7% of vote almost doubling their representation and the Socialist Democrats 29.8% also made slight gains at the expense of the rightwing Independence Party.

Parties		Votes	%	+/−%	Seats	+/−
	Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin)	55,758	29.8	+3.0	20	+2
	Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn)	44,369	23.7	−12.9	16	−9
	Left-Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin – grænt framboð)	40,580	21.7	+7.4	14	+5
	Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn)	27,699	14.8	+3.1	9	+2
	Citizens' Movement (Borgarahreyfingin)	13,519	7.2	+7.2	4	+4
	Liberal Party (Frjálslyndi flokkurinn)	4,148	2.2	−5.1	0	−4
	Democracy Movement (Lýðræðishreyfingin)	1,107	0.6	+0.6	0	—

Cambridge's first ever Green Party councillor Margaret Wright was on the scene and she had this to say;

"Its cold here in Reykjavic today but there is an air of celebration for the Greens who have fulfilled expectations by greatly improving their number of MPs in the new parliament.

"Having been all over Europe to meet and work with Green parties, I have no doubt that the only difference between Green success at parliamentary level in say Germany or Iceland, compared to at Westminster elections, is proportional representation. Our colleagues in Iceland and across Europe don't understand how the first past the post system can still be used, delivering distorted majorities and blocking smaller, but popular parties.

"The result here is historic, but also clearly a major reaction to the economic crisis which has impacted on Iceland as much as anywhere. There is widespread anger at the behaviour of the conservatives who allowed the crash and the financiers who caused the crash - resulting in the collapse of the financial system. Globalisation, of which Labour in the UK said there was no alternative, has failed, and exposed everyone to a more uncertain economic future. The Greens offer hope and a fresh way forward, and that has been rewarded in Iceland today."

But whilst this is, absolutely, good news the proof of the pudding is in the eating and the new government now has to show what a left leaning government can do to protect the people in this harsh economic climate.

Iceland: Kill the whales!

You may have heard that Iceland has a new government, made up of the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left Green Movement. The last one collapsed after sixteen weeks of protest due to the economic crisis and the fact they had a banking sector that went well beyond their means.

The new Prime Minister is possibly the first ex-air hostess to achieve such high office. More importantly she was selected to become PM because she's generally seen to be on the left of the SDA and what's needed now is a bit of old fashioned socialism to set capitalism back on its feet. Or something.

The Left Green's chairman and leading politician is Steingrímur Jóhann Sigfússon (pictured) who's most notable achievement to date appears to be the fact that when the US abandoned their air bases in 2006 he argued that Iceland should not develop its own armed forces. He's also spoken out against Gordon Brown and the use of UK anti-terror legislation to seize financial assets.

Steingrímur holds the positions of both Finance Minister and Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, both extremely important positions and symbolic of the central role that the left is playing in the new government.

It's disappointing then to see that almost his very first act as top fishman is to extend whaling. There has been extreme international concern at the move, which is essentially a refusal to rescind an order made in the dying days of the old government, despite the fact that Parliament itself has grave reservations about whaling and the PM's earlier promise to review the decision.

"The ambassadors from the United States, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Finland met with Sigfússon last week to discuss the issue. On Tuesday, those seven countries issued a letter asking him to rethink the sixfold increase to its whaling quota."

So let's be clear - New Labour is pressuring the Greens to ban whaling - and they are refusing. That's effing marvellous that is. That's a present from the disappointment shop with a bloody great ribbon on top!

The move will mean that whalers will be able to catch "100 minke whales and 150 fin whales during 2009", although Steingrímur has told whalers not to take these quotas for granted in future years. I'm sure the whalers are happy enough though as they were expecting the new government to institute an outright ban. Iceland and Norway are the only two countries in the world that allow commercial whaling (Japan hunts for "scientific purposes").

Not cool Steingrímur. This is not cool at all. You had it in your hands and you just let the opportunity slip through your fingers. Let's hope this kind of decision does not characterise your time in office.