Iceland review - 2016, Page 37

ICELAND REVIEW 35
Is this how Icelandic politics nor-
mally functions?” foreign journalists
struggled to understand the course
of events in Iceland following the April 3
broadcast of the now infamous interview
with Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð
Gunnlaugsson. In the interview, shown
all over the world in the first wave of
reports on leaked documents from the
Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, the
prime minister struggled to answer ques-
tions about Wintris, an offshore compa-
ny in his wife Anna Sigurlaug Pálsdóttir’s
name. The interview had a dramatic end-
ing: the PM walked out, live on camera.
A FLABBERGASTED NATION
The streets of Reykjavík, and all over
the country, were empty as the nation
watched the special edition of national
broadcaster RÚV’s news analysis pro-
gram Kastljós, about Icelanders’ links to
the Panama Papers. Leading politicians
asked live on television to comment fol-
lowing the program expressed shock and
horror. Frosti Sigurjónsson, MP for the
PM’s Progressive Party, later summed up
Sigmundur Davíð’s performance bluntly:
he didn’t tell the truth about his ties to
the offshore company Wintris.
The following 48 hours were indeed
unique hours in the political history of
Iceland, unfolding in front of the lenses
of the domestic and international media.
Still, both the foreign media and the
whole of Iceland, struggled to follow
what was really going on.
By 5 pm on Monday, April 4,
Austurvöllur, the square in front of the
parliament building, and adjacent streets
were packed with protesters. Organizers
put the number at 22,000 (this num-
ber was later confirmed by the police),
making it the biggest protest in Iceland’s
history. Hundreds of cars enroute to the
city center were stuck in traffic jams.
Placards were overwhelmingly directed
against the PM—protesters demanded
his immediate resignation.
The first sign of political conse-
quences came that same day from Bjarni
Benediktsson, finance minister and lead-
er of the Independence Party, which
the letter and thereby support what the
media termed as Sigmundur Davíð’s ‘solo
act,’ explaining that he could not grant
such a request unless he knew there
was support for the dissolution within
both coalition parties (Sigmundur Davíð
reportedly hadn’t even conferred with
his own MPs). The PM left in a huff,
cold-shouldering the awaiting press pack.
Following their meeting, Ólafur
Ragnar literally invited the media in
from the cold for a presidential press
conference—an extraordinary step, given
that private conversation between pres-
ident and PM is expected to remain
private. In only a few words, he informed
reporters of the prime minister’s errand,
to which he had refused to agree. His
next step would be to talk to Bjarni, face-
to-face.
MORE CONFUSION
Later that afternoon, minister of fish-
eries and agriculture and deputy leader
of the Progressive Party, Sigurður Ingi
Jóhannsson, announced that Sigmundur
Davíð would be “stepping aside” as
PM and that the party had voted in
favor of Sigmundur Davíð’s suggestion
that Sigurður Ingi replace him. The
Icelandic media used the word “resig-
nation.” Sigurður Ingi said that negotia-
tions with the Independence Party would
follow. It came as a surprise to many that
Sigmundur Davíð did not make his resig-
nation known in a formal address. “Just
read Facebook,” he said when a journalist
got close enough to ask him to clarify the
situation.
But that was far from the end of it. A
press release on the official webpage of the
prime minister’s office stated that the PM
had only had scouting discussions with the
president, i.e., claiming the president had
lied about the content of their meeting.
The president, referring to Sigmundur
Davíð’s earlier Facebook message, said he
was not going to quarrel publicly with a
PM who had already resigned.
By evening, a press release from the
prime minister’s office had been sent to
the foreign media, saying that Sigmundur
Davíð had not “resigned,” would remain
Prime Minister
Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson
speaking in Alþingi, the Icelandic
parliament, the day before
he stepped down.
forms the ruling coalition with the PM’s
Progressive Party. Speaking to Icelandic
media from his Florida pied à terre—he
had missed his flight and was stuck abroad
for an extra day—Bjarni refused to answer
whether he supported Sigmundur Davíð
as prime minister. Despite Bjarni him-
self being listed in the Panama Papers,
along with his party member, Minister for
the Interior Ólöf Nordal, the focus was
squarely on the PM.
Given Bjarni’s frosty comments and
the huge demonstration, by Monday
evening it was now becoming clear that
the prime minister would have to resign.
The only surprise then was his ungra-
cious and messy exit.
SOLO ACT
Following his meeting with Bjarni, just
off the plane from Florida, Sigmundur
Davíð posted a curt and threaten-
ing Facebook status just before noon
on Tuesday, April 5: if Bjarni and the
Independence Party’s MPs no longer
wished to support the government, he
would dissolve parliament and call an
election as soon as possible. To resign as
PM and allow the government to sur-
vive without him was not an option he
seemed ready to offer.
Next, the PM visited Iceland’s President
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, who had also
just returned to Iceland that morning,
cutting short a private visit abroad in light
of the extraordinary events unfolding at
home. Sigmundur reportedly wanted the
president to sign a formal letter giving
him the mandate to dissolve parliament.
Ólafur Ragnar refused, however, to sign
NEWS ANALYSIS