Reykjavík Grapevine - 07.10.2016, Blaðsíða 8

Lóa Hjálmtýsdóttir
The Politics Issue 8The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 15 — 2016
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Words
PAUL
FONTAINE
Words
PAUL
FONTAINE
Illustration
HALLI CIVELEK
ARTICLE
ANALYSIS
Party Platforms
Where Do
They Want To
Take Us?
The Grapevine
Readers Poll Results
How do your views line up with mainstream Iceland?
Normally each election cycle, we ask
each of the parties with a good chance
of getting into Parliament what their
platforms are. But since we’re focus-
ing on the future, Ideal Iceland here,
we were more curious to know what
any of these parties plan to do to
change things for the better, if any-
thing.
Here, then, dear readers, are the
parties who look likely to get at least a
couple seats in Parliament, and where
they would like to steer the country.
Viðreisn (centre-right)
1. A liberal party which supports
equality, economic freedom and West-
ern cooperation.
2. We will lower interest rates by peg-
ging the króna to another currency,
such as the Euro, through so-called
currency board. We want more Euro-
pean and international cooperation.
The future of the EU accession talks
should be decided in a national refer-
endum. We will reform the national
agricultural policy to give consumers
more freedom of choice. We want to
make it easier for foreigners to move
to Iceland to work and study.
3. We will go by our agenda. Out of the
parties currently in Parliament we are
probably closest to Bright Future, but
we rule out no partners if they agree
to our reforms.
Social Democratic Alliance
(centre-left)
1. We strive for equal opportunities
and social justice for all.
2. Our priorities are to rebuild the
health service to become the world’s
best. We want to help repair the hous-
ing mar-
ket. Sam-
f y l k i n g i n
(the Social-
D emo c rat ic
A l l i a n c e )
will reform
the fisher-
ies system
by auction-
ing a share
of the fish-
ing quotas to
the highest
bidders. We
will contin-
ue with the
n a t i o n a l l y
owned con-
s t i t u t i o n a l
process based
on the con-
s t i t u t i o n a l
council and
referendu m
of 2012.
3. Our first
option will be
to form a government with the current
opposition parties, a similar coalition
as the one we lead in the Reykjavík city
council.
The Pirate Party (rejects the left-
right spectrum)
1. Civil rights, internet freedoms, lib-
eral, modern, direct and improved de-
mocracy.
2. First and foremost we aim to enact
the new constitution approved by the
people in the 2012 referendum. We aim
to change the fisheries system so that
all permitted quotas will be sold on an
open market. We aim to substantially
increase spending on our healthcare
system so that it will be freely and
fully available to all persons inhabit-
ing Iceland,
irrespective
of where they
live or their
e c o n o m i c
status. The
Pirate Party
is highly con-
cerned about
the protec-
tion and
strengthen-
ing of civil
rights both in
Iceland and
abroad. One
of our many
policies in
this area is to
fully realize
the potential
of the par-
l i a m e n t a r y
resolution of
the Icelandic
Modern Me-
dia Initiative
(IMMI). We
also reached out to the immigrant
community in Iceland and asked them
to take the lead in creating an immi-
gration policy for the Pirates. The ini-
tiative was highly successful and we
now have a great immigration policy,
made for the most part by immigrants
themselves.
3. The Pirate Party has not officially
ruled out collaboration with any party
currently likely to win seats in Par-
liament. Nevertheless, we consider
it unlikely that we will find common
ground with the current government
parties, as both parties have indicated
strongly that they oppose our main
policy goal, the enactment of the new
constitution.
The Independence Party (right-
wing)
1. Right-of-centre (liberal-conserva-
tive); emphasising fiscal responsibil-
ity, free enterprise, and civil liberties.
2. We will provide strong national
leadership and a clear economic plan
to a better, more secure future, with
plenty of opportunity for creative and
enterprising people. Our plan for get-
ting Iceland On the Right Track calls
for consolidating our fiscal and eco-
nomic recovery. This will foster the
longest growth period in Iceland’s
history, ensuring that Iceland will re-
main one of the fastest growing devel-
oped economies in the world. Having
restored the economy as well as the
treasury, we will proceed in the next
election term to rebuild and fortify in-
frastructure, national healthcare and
social welfare. We will make sure that
the recovery benefits every Icelander,
regardless of gender or age, origin or
residence, health or ability, means or
education, faith or sexual orientation.
We will lift the bulk of capital controls
still in place and lower taxes on ordi-
nary working families, building an
economy that works for everyone.
3. The Independence Party will not
commit to any preference for coalition
parties prior to the election. Not only
would that be premature and politi-
cally imprudent, but also an affront to
the voters and their franchise. >>>>>>
Well, we had to get in on the act,
and set up our own online poll.
As with all open-ended online
polls, ours too was completely
unscientific, only with the added
bonus of being conducted over
the course of just a few days. We
sent out the call, and an astound-
ing 235 of you answered. We are
humbled.
Here’s how our poll worked.
Our poll was based on one con-
ducted by Maskína (see www.
gpv.is/maskina) for RÚV last
month, whereby respondents
were presented with a list of is-
sues. Only RÚV respondents
were asked to rate each one in
terms of level of importance.
We asked our readers to choose
their personal top three. These
results reflect which issues were
the most to least likely to be in
any given reader’s top three. We
also gave our readers the chance
to offer their own written cave-
ats to their responses, which you
can read below.
With that in mind, here are
the results:
Of the following issues, select three (3) that you believe the
Icelandic government must pay the most attention to after elections:
Answer Choices Responses
Health care 59.60%
Housing 57.58%
Environmentalism 40.40%
The use of natural resources 30.30%
Revising the Constitution 26.26%
Education 26.26%
Immigration, asylum seekers & refugees 24.24%
Job creation in rural Iceland 15.15%
Taxes, either raising or lowering them 11.11%
Disabled people and pensioners 7.07%
Joining the European Union 7.07%
The location of the domestic airport 3.03%
(i.e., to remain in Reykjavík or be moved elsewhere)
Our readers were very eager to
respond in writing, as well. As
to be expected, a great many
emphasised the need to protect
Icelandic nature, and to improve
the infrastructure of the tour-
ism industry, while also empha-
sising that tourism itself should
be contained to some degree.
However, many readers also ex-
pressed hopes and dreams for
Icelandic society. They stressed
such concepts as Iceland becom-
ing a whistleblower haven, revis-
ing its constitution, making the
immigration process simpler,
creating more affordable hous-
ing, sustainable energy to power
fleets of electric cars - countless
almost utopian ideas that our
readers believe Iceland can and
should take up.
Overall, this has been a very
encouraging experience. Maybe
sometime soon we’ll even throw
in for an actual scientific poll.
Expect a call from us just as you
sit down to dinner soon!
The Questions
1. Describe your party platform
in 10 words or less (Editor’s
note: Only three parties
managed to do this).
2. What ideas does your party
have for changing Iceland for
the better?
3. Of the other parties
currently polling high enough
to win seats in Parliament
if elections were held today,
who could you see yourselves
partnering with in a coalition?
Who could you see yourselves
absolutely not partnering with
in a coalition?