Reykjavík Grapevine - 06.10.2017, Qupperneq 10

Iceland has almost always had a right
wing government. The one exception was
in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis,
when a coalition of Social Democrats and
Left-Greens ran the country from 2009
to 2013. After this brief step to the left,
Iceland took a swing back to the right, re-
electing that classic duo, the Independ-
ence Party and the Progressive Party.
But Iceland looks set to re-elect an-
other leftist government at the end of
this month. This is due in part to yet
another scandal hitting the right barely
over a year after the last one, but is also
largely due to a phenomenon unheard of
in Iceland: the splintering of right wing
parties. This fracture can be attributed
to growing populism, chaos that en-
sued from the scandal, and pure ego.
Iceland’s monolithic right wing is, for
the first time in history, breaking apart.
From Panama Papers To
Paedophiles
The Panama Papers scandal of April 2016
unseated not just the Progressive Party;
it utterly humiliated then-Prime Minis-
ter Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson. In
the months that have followed since, Sig-
mundur has refused to shoulder any of
the blame for the scandal, and has nei-
ther forgotten nor forgiven those who
distanced themselves from him when it
became public. This will be
important to consider later.
Last September, as read-
ers will remember, another
crisis erupted in the gov-
ernment, when it came to
light that Prime Minister
Bjarni Benediktsson—and
pretty much the rest of the
Independence Party—had
covered up the fact that
Bjarni’s father signed a rec-
ommendation that a con-
victed paedophile get his
civil standing reinstated.
In both cases, scan-
dal torpedoed a ruling
coalition party, prompt-
ing early elections. Both
major right wing parties
are now stained by cor-
ruption and secrecy. This might be sur-
vivable, if conservative voters didn’t
have any other choices. But they do.
Divided, and possibly
conquered
Since the Panama Papers, new right wing
parties have begun to crop up, and seem
to be doing so at an accelerating rate. The
Icelandic National Front heralded the first
major division, comprised mostly of right
wing populists who do not believe the es-
tablishment conservatives hate foreign-
ers enough. Then along came the Reform
Party, comprised in part of former Inde-
pendence Party players, who won seven
seats in last year’s elections. They were
followed by the People’s Party, which took
up populist positions on the rights of Ice-
land’s elderly and disabled, with a healthy
dollop of suspicion for asylum seekers.
Soon thereafter came the Freedom Party,
which is mostly about building up the po-
lice force and increasing border security.
Of these three, the People’s Party is
the most viable, polling high enough at
the time of this writing to win several
seats in parliament. However, they may
have a run for their money, as Sigmun-
dur Davíð has announced that he will
run again—under the banner of his very
own party. Some Progressives are even
joining him. We may like to poke fun at
Sigmundur Davíð, but make no mistake:
he has some diehard fans, and they will
gladly vote for any party he is leading over
voting for the Progressives. At the same
time, the Progressives have a solid base
of support in the countryside. So this
party’s support will likely split into two.
So how’s the left doing?
While this chaos breaks out on the right,
the parties on the left are actually do-
ing pretty well for themselves. The Left-
Greens are seeing a huge upswing of sup-
port, and the greatest share of Icelanders
want Left-Green chair Katrín Jakobsdóttir
as the next Prime Minister. The Pirates
have seen a small dip in support, but the
Social Democrats are gaining ground.
All told, if elections were
held today, a coalition
government comprised
of the Left-Greens, the
Social Democrats and
the Pirates (who, while
refusing to publicly
align themselves with
left or right, have a de-
cidedly leftist platform)
would be the most likely
configuration. While
still having a slim ma-
jority, this coalition
possibility is helped not
only by the Independ-
ence Party seeing its
support tank, but also
by the fact that the right
would need a coalition of
four or more parties to
have a majority by virtue of the conserva-
tive vote spreading across several parties.
Throw a Progressive Party clone in the
mix and the right divides even further.
Elections are still a few weeks away,
and of course anything can happen in
Icelandic politics in that amount of time.
But the fracturing of the right may spell
the end of the chokehold conservatives
have had on Iceland for decades now,
and the left may actually become the
new monolith. Strange days indeed.
ANALYSIS
Words:
Paul Fontaine
Photo:
Hörður Sveinsson
Share this
gpv.is/ppl17
Probably the most famous student
protest ever in Iceland took place
in 1850. A group of students at the
Latin School (now Menntaskólin í
Reykjavík, or MR, still located in a
big building downtown) were to be
forced into a sobriety society by
the dean and Homeric Poem trans-
lator Sveinbjörn Egilsson. Finding
their basic human rights under
threat, the students gathered out-
side his window and proclaimed
“Sveinbjörn Pereat,” which is Latin
for “Down with…”
The students proceeded to do
this underneath every window in
town. The dean wanted them pun-
ished and when he got no help
from local authorities, he sailed
all the way to Copenhagen for re-
dress. It was eventually decided
that no students would graduate
that year, and many had to retake
the curriculum. But sobriety re-
mained unenforced.
In times of crisis, the students
would gather at the Beneventum
cliffs in Öskjuhlíðin. The next meet-
ing there took place in 1895, when
they decided to protest the abol-
ishment of the King’s Prayer day,
which was a day off of school.
The last recorded student meet-
ing was in 1928, when they were
to be punished for loud singing at
night. Student protests have con-
tinued intermittently ever since,
but largely without the aid of Latin.
Valur Gunnarsson
10 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 18 — 2017
BLAST FROM THE PAST
“This fracture
can be attrib-
uted to growing
populism, chaos
that ensued from
the scandal, and
pure ego. Ice-
land’s monolithic
right wing is, for
the first time in
history, breaking
apart.”
A Fractured
Right Arm
Iceland’s Conservatives Are Breaking Up
Student
Protests
In The
1800s
The lusciously named Sveinbjörn Egilsson
First
You can't shake the Simmi
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