Political fault lines
New political fault lines seem to have opened up in Icelandic politics. The reason only ex- PM Geir Haarde will be charged and not the three other ministers named in a recent Althing report on ministers’ responsibility for the collapse of the banks is because four social democratic MPs chose to vote for charging Haarde and against charging the other three. Consequently, only Haarde is seen by Althing to carry the political responsibility for the fate of the banks and consequently the Icelandic economy.
The Independence Party and the Left Greens are clear on the issue. The former unanimously voted against any charges. The latter were equally of one mind for the charges. The fault lines run through the social democrats, now leading a coalition government with the Left Greens. The question is if this will have any further political repercussions. The feeling among Icelandic political pundits is that this issue hasn’t left the debate and that things are a bit up in the political air.
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