Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.02.2006, Blaðsíða 10

Sveinn Birkir Björnsson gives us Grapevine’s Government Guide
Grapevine’s Government Guide
Who They Are and How They Vote
(and how you can watch it)
The Leftist-Green Party (Vinstrihreyfingin-
Grænt Framboð)
Guiding principles: Far-left, pro-environmental, anti-NATO, feminist.
Party Chairperson: Steingrímur J. Sigfússon
Number of seats: 5
Registered members: about 1,400
Ministers: none
Strange but true: The only party with foreigners in their leadership - Fida
Abu Libdeh (shift manager) and Gerard Lemarquis (cashier).
Website: www.vg.is
E-mail: vg@vg.is
Phone: 552-8872
Address: Pósthólf 175, 121 Reykjavík
The Social Democratic Party (Samfylkingin)
Guiding principles: Left-centrist, social-democratic.
Party Chairman: Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir
Number of seats: 20
Registered members: about 20,000
Ministers: none
Strange but true: Have aligned with the Leftist-Greens and the Liberals for
municipal elections in Ísafjörður.
Website: www.samfylking.is
E-mail: samfylking@samfylking.is
Phone: 414-2200
Address: Hallveigarstígur 1 (2nd Floor), Box 160, 101 Reykjavík
The Progressive Party
(Framsóknarflokkurinn)
Guiding principles: Right-centrist; believes in fewer economic and
environmental regulations while strengthening the social system.
Party Chairman: Halldór Ásgrímsson
Number of seats: 12
Registered members: about 10,000
Ministers: Prime Minister Halldór Ásgrímsson, Minister of Social Affairs
Árni Magnússon, Minister of Agriculture Guðni Ágústsson, Minister of
Health Jón Kristjánsson, Minister of Industry Valgerður Sverrisdóttir
Strange but true: Mayoral candidate for the Progressives, Björn Ingi
Hrafnsson, has said that he wants to investigate whether school uniforms for
grade school children would be a good idea.
Website: www.framsokn.is
E-mail: framsokn@framsokn.is
Phone: 540-4300
Address: Hverfisgata 33 (2nd Floor), 101 Reykjavík
The Liberal Party (Frjálslyndir)
Guiding principles: Right-centrist, emphasising the
rights of fishermen and increasing government transparency.
Party Chairman: Guðjón Kristjánsson
Number of seats: 3
Registered members: about 2,000
Ministers: none
Strange but true: Sóley Kristjánsdóttir – better known as DJ Sóley – is listed
as the party’s Reykjavík North 5th seat candidate for parliament.
Website: www.frjalslyndir.is
E-mail: xf@xf.is
Phone: 552-2600
Address: Aðalstræti 9, 101 Reykjavík
The Independence Party
(Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn)
Guiding principles: Right wing, mouthpiece for privatisation in all areas of
society.
Party Chairman: Geir H. Haarde
Number of seats: 23
Registered members: about 34,000
Ministers: Minister of Finance Árni M. Mathiesen, Minister of Justice
Björn Bjarnason, Minister of Foreign Affairs Geir H. Haarde, Minister of
the Fisheries Einar K. Guðfinnson, Minister of the Environment Sigríður A.
Þórðardóttir, Minister of Communications Sturla Böðvarsson, Minister of
Education Þórgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir
Strange but true: Seven candidates for the Independence Party are running
for representation of Álftanes, which has a population of about 1800
people.
Website: www.xd.is
E-mail: xd@xd.is
Phone: 515-1700
Address: Háaleitisbraut 1, 105 Reykjavík
In 2004, the President vetoed a bill regulating media ownership. Since
then, 365, the media company the bill was aimed at regulating, has
expanded, and they have recently hired career politicians in editorial
positions. 1) Have your opinions regarding the media bill changed?
2) And, regarding the constitutional committee set up to evalu-
ate presidential powers in the wake of the media bill veto, should
Þorsteinn Pálsson, editor of Fréttablaðið, be allowed to continue to sit
on such a committee given his obvious conflict of interests?
So where do they stand on . . .
2) “I think these matters should gen-
erally be left up to the party and the
media outlet involved. Even journal-
ists have human rights; you can’t
expect someone to disengage himself
entirely from society just because he
has begun working for the media.”
MP Magnús Hafsteinsson
Independence Party:
1) “Fundamentally speaking, noth-
ing much has changed. My position
is the same: the more diverse our
source of news, the better. There
are many ways to achieve this goal,
but in this as in so many other cases
increased competition is key, we
don’t want one or two conglomer-
ates providing all Icelandic news.”
2) “It’s an interesting question, since
up until now people apparently
haven’t even considered it inappro-
priate for an editor of a paper to be
a member of parliament at the same
time. I seem to recall DV still being
touted as a free and independent pa-
per while Össur Skarphéðinsson was
their editor. I don’t see much differ-
ence.” MP Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson
that when you as a publisher hire
an editor who has such a long and
involved history with a political party
you owe it to your readers to make
sure it has no effect on editorial
policy. There is nothing wrong with
former politicians taking up other
jobs but his continued presence as an
Independence Party representative
on what is going to become a very
hotly debated committee raises some
questions.” MP Mörður Árnason
Progressive Party:
1) “Our position is the same as be-
fore. Even though some things in the
media market have changed we are
very optimistic that solid legislation
will be passed in the near future.”
2) “I have every faith that those in-
volved will behave honourably and
professionally.” MP Siv Friðleifsdóttir
Liberal Party:
1) “Our position has always been
the same, in fact before the first
laws were suggested we had already
been working on this kind of frame-
work [for a bill] – in cooperation
with all parties except the Social
Democrats – for some time.”
Leftist-Green Party:
1) “I have always been of the opin-
ion that media in Iceland would
benefit from a legislative frame. It is
a mistake to think that people who
were against the previous bill do not
support making laws about media
ownership, we were only opposed
because the bill itself did not meet
the standards of good governance.”
2) “The individual, the media outlet
and the party all need to consider
these things carefully for themselves.
The semblance of propriety is impor-
tant and it’s usually best not to give
people a chance to interpret your
actions as malicious. One should
probably care enough about one’s
job not to get into that kind of situ-
ation.” MP Steingrímur J. Sigfússon
Social Democratic Party:
1) “Nothing has changed; we put
emphasis on creating a frame-
work of both laws and rules to
regulate editorial independence
and transparency. Limiting owner-
ship of media outright is prob-
ably not a good way to go.”
2) “Speaking as a reader, I think
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