Government belly-up – long live the revolution
The Icelandic government’s gone belly-up. Today is a day for celebration, so far at least – we of course still have to see what succedes them. Yesterday the minister of finance resigned, but not before firing the board of the Financial Supervisory Authority – this morning, rigorous meetings of all parties. The social-democrats wanted to clean out the central bank and get one of their own – leftie Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir – as prime minister. The independence party (liberalist) wouldn’t have any of it. And so: belly-up.
The current PM, or PM-on-his-way-out-of-government, Geir Haarde (independence party), will meet up with the president later today to be officially released from office. Right now it seems the options are:
1) Some sort of coalition government of all parties
2) Minority government of social-democrats and left-greens
3) Non-political government supported by parliament
4) Three-party government of left-green, social-democrats and the progressive party
Three out of four would mean a cleaning out in the central bank (any government not tied to the independence party, as the leader of the central bank is a former deity of theirs, and will not be sacrificed)
In any case, break out the bubbly – the people have learned to speak, they’ve spoken, and will continue to do so.
And in may we’ll have elections.