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.

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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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