Icelandic government falls over foreign policy, immigration, and energy issues: new elections in November

reykjavik - The Icelandic government has collapsed due to disagreements over foreign policy, immigration, and energy issues. Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson has announced that new elections will be held in November.

The broad government coalition consisted of the conservative Independence Party, the Left-Green Movement, and the center-right Progressive Party. Benediktsson, leader of the Independence Party, told reporters that the issues of contention were discussed less during the previous 2021 elections than is now necessary. He emphasized that his party mainly differed in opinion with the future vision of the Left-Green Movement.

Benediktsson became prime minister in April 2024 after Katrín Jakobsdóttir of the Left-Green Movement resigned to run for the presidency. Jakobsdóttir, who had been prime minister since 2017, lost that election to businesswoman Halla Tómasdóttir.