Iceland’s Left-Green head tasked with forming govt after deadlock

The head of Iceland’s Left-Green movement was tasked Wednesday with forming a new government, nearly three weeks after snap elections triggered by the Panama Papers scandal left the country in political deadlock.
“We are looking at forming a multi-party government from the centre to the left,” Katrin Jakobsdottir, the head of the country’s second largest party, told reporters in Reykjavik after meeting with President Gudni Johannesson.
Since its independence in 1944, Iceland has only seen one centre-left government, which emerged from the 2009 election after the 2008 financial collapse.
Allied with the anti-establishment Pirate Party, Social Democrats and Bright Future party, the Left-Green faces an uphill task of forging a governing coalition with the centre-right Reform party, analysts say.
Just on Tuesday, Pirate deputy Asta Helgadottir poured cold water on the idea, saying such a coalition would be a “jigsaw”.
Led by the largest election winner Independence Party (21 seats), the centre-right coalition failed to find common ground over a range of divisive issues — relations with the European Union (EU), institutional reform and fishing.
The October 29 snap vote, prompted by a massive tax scandal ensnaring several Icelandic officials, saw the anti-establishment Pirate Party become the third largest party with 10 seats.