(Bloomberg) -- Iceland’s election winner, the Social Democrats, were tasked to start talks on forming the island nation’s next government.
President Halla Tomasdottir on Tuesday gave Social Democrats’ leader Kristrun Frostadottir the mandate to lead talks after her party emerged as the winner in Saturday’s general election. Frostadottir plans to seek an alliance with the Liberal Reform Party and the People’s Party.
“I am optimistic,” Frostadottir told reporters at the president’s residence. “There is considerable harmony in our policies.”
The three parties have 36 lawmakers in parliament, giving them a majority in the 63-seat legislature. All three parties have ambitions to hike or redesign resource fees, including on energy and fish.
The Social Democrats campaigned on getting inflation and state finances under control while also seeking to strengthen the welfare system. Similarly the Liberal Reform Party, steered by lawmaker and former education minister, Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir, emphasized the importance of prudent state finances. It among others plans on selling Landsbankinn hf, an Icelandic lender owned by the state since the financial crisis. The duo is in favor of joining the European Union.
The People’s Party is a relative newcomer on the political stage. Formed less than a decade ago by current leader Inga Saeland, it seeks to ease poverty and injustice and boost welfare services. Some of its economic policies diverge from those of its prospective coalition partners.
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