Iceland is headed for a snap election after its governing coalition collapses

[October 14, 2024]  LONDON (AP) — Iceland appears headed for a snap election after Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson pulled the plug on the Nordic nation’s fragile governing coalition. 

Iceland's Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson speaks to members of the media during his arrival at the NATO summit in Washington, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

The prime minister is expected to ask President Halla Tómasdóttir on Monday to formally dissolve Iceland’s parliament, the Althingi, for an election on Nov. 30, national broadcaster RUV reported.

Benediktsson’s center-right Independence Party has governed since April with the centrist Progressive Party and the Left Green Movement. He said the coalition partners disagreed over issues including immigration, energy policy and the economy.

Iceland is a wind-lashed island near the Arctic Circle with a population of about 385,000. The country suffered through years of economic upheaval after its debt-swollen banks collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis, but has become a major draw for tourists eager to see its glaciers and waterfalls, the Northern Lights and its frequently active volcanoes.

Repeated eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula in the country’s southwest have displaced several thousand people and strained public finances.

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