Iceland's Prime Minister dissolves ruling three-party coalition, citing infighting

euronews (in English)

Benediktsson said fresh parliamentary elections are expected to take place on 30 November, if President Halla Tómasdóttir accepts his motion to dissolve parliament.

Transcript

00:00People in Iceland could be heading back to the polls in November after Prime Minister

00:06Bjarni Benediktsson announced the dissolution of the country's governing coalition.

00:11Speaking at a surprise press conference in Reykjavik, Benediktsson cited infighting between

00:16the three political parties that make up the coalition as his reason for ending it.

00:22Iceland's coalition government is made up of Benediktsson's Conservative Independence

00:26Party, the centre-right Progressive Party and the leftist Greens.

00:30There is a lot of information about the decisions in the referendum.

00:35It has been made public.

00:37We have been informed for a long time in the government about the future of the use of

00:43force.

00:44And now it is the case that the provisions of the law on force and law enforcement have

00:50become more firm in the government in some way.

00:54Benediktsson said parliamentary elections are slated to take place on the 30th of November

00:58if President Hatla Tomas Dottir accepts the motion to dissolve parliament.

01:03But one member of the coalition said the decision had come as a surprise.

01:07It would have been better if we had discussed the issue of law enforcement.

01:12I would like to mention the issue of housing and the issue of human rights.

01:16I think that would have been the most important issue.

01:21The ruling coalition in power since November 2021 has faltered under a raft of problems,

01:29particularly after a series of volcanic eruptions in the country forced thousands to evacuate

01:35their homes.

01:36That put more pressure on an economy already dealing with high inflation and rising interest

01:41rates.

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