Icelandic politics- article

Iceland's government is made up of three established parties. The Independence Party (Right wing group) is the largest and is a right-wing interest group for business and large corporations. The progressive party, (Middle group) which has long been an interest group for agriculture and small fishing companies. Left Green party (Left wing group) which is a variant of the old Communist party and is a sort of neutral party, but has emphasized environmental issues.

The leader of the Right wing party is Bjarni Benediktsson, who was brought up in the party for the longest part of the collaboration, was the Minister of Finance, but recently moved to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after a scandal and a blunder in the sale of a state-owned bank.

The leader of the Progressive Party is Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson, who is the Minister of the Interior and comes from the agricultural sector and is a former veterinarian. The party has distanced itself from political disputes, but the disaster in Grindavíkur town rests on its shoulders.

The leader of the Left Greens is Katrín Jakopsdóttir, who comes from a well-established family of parliamentarians, literary critic and writer. She is the Prime Minister of Iceland. She does not express her personal opinion, or the opinion of her party, but supports the Right wing party in all issues.

The government held its ground in the last election and is now halfway through its second term. Her main subjects have been the COVID issues, which she managed to work through successfully. Inflation that has been very poorly managed, Natural disasters that the administration has not been very successful in solving and Immigration and refugees. There are so many difficult collective bargaining agreements ahead.

The main disagreements with the people are whaling and refugees. In general, the nation does not support whaling, but it is carried out under the auspices of the Independence Party and has come into conflict with environmental considerations in the Left Green Party. During the war in Ukraine, the government agreed to accept the refugees who sought Iceland. The same will does not apply to the Palestinian people who are refugees from Gaza.

In foreign affairs, the Icelandic government has not taken a very hard stance against the Russians in the war with Ukraine, but has more or less followed the other Nordic countries in their stance. In response to Israel's attacks on Gaza, the Icelandic government has been soft in its stance and rather neutral, except for a few members of parliament on the far right who have expressed support for Israel's actions in Gaza.

The only opposition party that has criticized the government's lack of action and lack of will in humanitarian matters is the Pirate Party, which is the third largest party according to opinion polls.

The largest opposition party is Samfylking, (a coalition of left-wing democrats) whose main goal is for Iceland to join the European Union.