Reykjavík Grapevine - 19.05.2006, Blaðsíða 8

There is considerable anticipation regarding
the upcoming elections in Reykjavík. Going
into the election, it looks as if the Independent
Party might win back City Hall. For decades,
The Independence Party had a stronghold on
city elections, receiving a majority in every
election from 1930 – 1994, with the exception
of one term, 1978-1982.
In 1994, other parties formed a political
coalition and subsequently won the election
that year, and they have managed to maintain
power in City Hall for three terms. Negotia-
tions for the continued co-operation of the
parties in the coalition fell through last year.
As a result, The Progressive Party now faces
extinction. According to the latest IMG Gal-
lup poll, the party would not get a representa-
tive voted on city council if the election were
held today.
The turmoil surrounding the coalition has
put the Independence party in a favourable
position. According to the same IMG Gallup
poll, the party would receive 49% support in
the city elections, enough to put eight people
on city council, thereby securing a majority.
In terms of politics, the race for City Hall
is really a race for bragging rights. There are no
clean-cut lines in form of ideological differ-
ences between the parties.
“I can understand that people have a
difficult time seeing the difference between
the different campaigns,” Social Democrat
mayoral candidate Dagur B. Eggertson told
The Grapevine, possibly offering the under-
statement of the year. “People seem to have laid
down their arms and come to an agreement
over certain issues.”
The location of the Reykjavík airport
has been blown up to be a big issue, which is
curious, considering that the issue was put to
the polls in the 2002 elections and the deci-
sion to relocate it has already been made. All
the parties, with the exception of the Liberal
Party, have agreed that the airport should be
relocated. There is a committee looking at
different options for the relocation, but it is not
expected to reach conclusions any time soon.
Other issues that have been in focus are the
costs of day care for pre-schoolers and the con-
ditions of the elderly and traffic congestion.
On all issues, the parties are more or less in
total agreement. At the end of the day, this will
probably be the most boring campaign fight in
the history of man. During the last elections,
at least we had two candidates that hated each
other.
The total number of registered voters in
Reykjavík in the upcoming elections is 86,000.
Every Icelandic citizen above the age of 18 is
eligible to vote. In addition, all foreign citizens
who have had legal residence in Iceland for at
least five years on election day, i.e. from May
27th 2001, and are at least 18 years old have
the right to vote and run for seats in the city
elections. Scandinavian citizens (Danish,
Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish nation-
als) have the right to vote after three years
residence in Iceland prior to Election Day, i.e.
from May 27th 2003. The number of foreign
citizens with voting rights in the city elections
is about 2300.
We’re the Party that Cares for Old People AND Babies
The Grapevine Guide to the 2006 Reykjavík Mayoral Elections
by sveinn birkir björnsson
Primary candidate: Ólafur F. Mag-
nússon. 54-year-old doctor and a
current member of city council.
“I am a doctor, and that has shaped my
opinions in a lot of ways. We want to
focus on welfare and environmental
issues,” said Magnússon, the party’s
primary candidate. “We want to build
our campaign around the people who
need the assistance the most, the elderly
and the disabled.”
The key issue for The Liberal Party
is the location of the Reykjavík Airport.
This is the only party that has taken a
firm position against the relocation of
the airport. This is really curious, as
this issue was put on the ballot in the
last city elections, and the citizens of
Reykjavík voted to relocate the airport.
Other platform highlights promise:
More beds in nursing homes and
increased home-care services for the
elderly, free public transportation for
the young, the elderly and the disabled
and improving access for people with
disabilities, and lowering property taxes
for the elderly.
“Everyone seems to agree on the
need to improve the conditions of the
elderly,” Magnússon said. “The problem
is that some parties don’t deliver on
their promises. We don’t have a back-
pack of unfulfilled promises like some
other candidates do.”
Liberal Party
Primary Candidate: Dagur B. Eg-
gertsson. 33-year-old doctor and a
current member of city council.
“Personally I would want to improve
the competitiveness of the city,” Egg-
ertsson told the Grapevine. “We need to
build a city that is competitive with the
best cities in the world,” mayoral can-
didate Dagur B. Eggertson answered
when asked to spell out what issues he
would want to emphasise if he gained
power in City Hall.
“We must place an emphasis on
developing a campus area and a knowl-
edge industry around the universities,
we need to promote the financial sector,
tourism and the smart economy. The
foundation for this is to strengthen the
service level of the city and the welfare
of our citizens,” he added.
The Social Democrats have pro-
posed developmental plans for 6000
new apartments in the Reykjavík area.
“The city needs to focus on diversity,
not just luxury. We have to make a
housing rental market a viable option
for people,” Eggertsson told us.
In addition to suggesting new
development plans, the platform
highlights include: Improved care for
the elderly, making pre-school free, in-
tegrating grade school, sports and arts,
improving schools by letting parents
be more active in school administra-
tion and improving public transporta-
tion. They also propose to solve traffic
congestion problems with better f low
through bigger intersections, preferably
by placing key traffic veins in tunnels
under the city.
And the airport?
“The decision regarding the airport
should be taken in a professional man-
ner, with no rush of judgement,” Eg-
gertson said. Whatever that means in
terms of their position, the party in has,
in the past, claimed the airport should
be relocated.
Social Democratic Party
Primary candidate: Björn Ingi Hraf-
nsson. 33-year-old history student,
currently working as an assistant to
Prime Minister Halldór Ásgrímsson
The Progressive party has suffered for
their bad campaign management. They
have campaigned heavily on the issue of
the relocation of the Reykjavík airport.
They want to locate the airport on Lön-
gusker, a landfill just outside the shores
of Reykjavík. It is too bad that it turned
out that the land where they plan to
relocate the airport does not belong to
Reykjavík city, but rather the neigh-
bouring municipality Seltjarnarnes, and
it is a part of a natural reserve.
Their platform also proposes that
smaller and more efficient cars be pro-
moted. That proposal has been some-
what offset by the campaign manager
and the candidates driving around in a
huge, black Hummer H2, the world’s
most environmentally un-friendly car,
with the party’s logo splashed all over it.
That bad idea turned really ugly when
they managed to park it in a handi-
capped zone where it was subsequently
photographed. The photos have been
held up for scorn and ridicule on every
Internet discussion forum in Iceland.
Other platform highlights include:
Better care for the elderly, solving
traffic congestion problems with more
underground tunnels, free public trans-
portation for the elderly, students and
the disabled, free pre schools, improved
diet in school cafeterias, school uni-
forms and better integration of sports
and arts in the city’s school system.
To their defence, The Progressive
Party promises to make Reykjavík a fun
city. They propose a water slide park, an
aquarium in Laugardalur and making
admission to all city-owned museums
free of charge. This is what politics
should really be about.
The Progressive Party
Primary candidate: Vilhjálmur Þ.
Vilhjálmsson. 60-year-old lawyer and
a current member of the city council.
The Independence Party has built their
campaign platform around the curious
slogan “Time to live.” The slogan,
and the platform, is based on a poll
that revealed that 95% of the people
of Reykjavík want to spend more time
with their family. Well, Reykjavíki-
ans, you asked for it, you got it. The
Independence Party, the corporate
watchdog, has figured out how you can
spend more time with your family with
an innovative four point plan.
Not really. The innovative plan con-
sists of reducing the costs of pre-school
(at least they are not promising to make
it free like everyone else), integrat-
ing schools, sports and arts, as well as
muddled statements like improving
schools by letting parents be more active
in school administration. Now that is
innovation.
Other platform highlights include:
New developments and apartment
buildings, solving traffic congestion
problems with better f low through big-
ger intersections, preferably by placing
key traffic veins in tunnels under the
city, and better care for the elderly.
And the airport?
Well, they have spoken very vaguely
about the airport, but they have said
that the airport should be relocated.
I know this may all sound about
as fresh and innovative, as the Hey
Ya song did when you heard it on the
radio for the 8000th time that month.
The Independence Party knows this
as well, they are just saying they are
better equipped at executing this joint
platform.
The Independence Party
Primary candidate: Svandís Svavars-
dóttir. 41-year-old linguistic and
sign-language interpreter.
As indicated by their name, The Left-
ist-Green Movement is a left-leaning,
environmental-friendly political move-
ment.
“Personally, I would like to see both
pre-schools and grade schools free of
charge. That includes both day-care
centres and school meals,” Svandís
Svavarsdóttir, the party’s primary can-
didate, told The Reykjavík Grapevine
when asked what issues she would place
the most focus on. As luck has it, she
might see her pet projects come to frui-
tion even if she is not elected, thanks
to the joint campaign platform of the
parties. But, at least they were the first
to raise that issue.
”I would also want to eliminate gen-
der-based wage inequality, and fight for
the equal opportunity and rights of the
sexes. A key aspect would be to revoke
wage confidentiality. It is a tool that is
used to safeguard the current wage-dif-
ference between the sexes,” Svavarsdótt-
ir added.
The Leftist-Greens would also
like to promote multiculturalism, arts
and culture in the city, Other platform
highlights include: Better care for the
elderly, better public transportation,
building underground tunnels for big-
ger traffic veins. School, sports, arts…
whatever, you get the picture.
And the airport?
“The airport is a non-issue. It has
already been decided that it will be
moved in 2016. But the decision on
where it will be moved to will not even
be made in this term. I don’t know
why this is even a campaign issue. We
have said that we like Hólmsheiði as
an option. But, of course, this is not a
decision that should be taken without a
wide cross-political agreement.”
Leftist-Green Movement
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