Icelandic Snap Election, 28th Oct 2017

[Lord Halifax]

People's Party is left-wing? from what i read its a right-populist party critical of immigration.

Their welfare policies are very leftist and eradicating poverty is their core goal, but they have at times criticized that taking in too many refugees could harm welfare for the disabled and elderly.

The Reykjavík Grapevine writes that a well-known xenophobe has recently joined them.

https://grapevine.is/mag/articles/2017/09/22/dawn-of-the-populists

Professor in political science Eirikur Bergman recently called them "a radical Socialist party" and he is the author of "Nordic Nationalism and Right-Wing Populist Politics: Imperial Relationships and National Sentiments" so I suppose he would know if they were right wing populists.

[Lord Halifax]

"Former Prime Minister and Chairman of the Progressive Party Sigmundur Davið Gunnlaugsson announced in a letter on his website he will be leaving the party to form a new one. The letter, released yesterday, is a lengthy one which traces his career in politics from when he was elected chairman of the Progressive Party in 2009, through forming a government, and his resignation following the Panama Papers scandal in 2016. Sigmundur claims that throughout his time as chairman, six attempts were made to oust him from the party. He states that he hopes to form a new party with people willing to work on the same grounds "as we sought to do from 2009 to 2016"."

http://icelandreview.com/news/2017/09/25/former-prime-minister-leaves-party-form-new-one

[Lord Halifax]

There is a really good Iceland thread on VoteUK, if anyone is interested.

http://vote-2012.proboards.com/thread/10603/icelandic-parliamentary-election-2017?page=1