In a concession to opposition parties and the protesters who hounded Prime Minister Sigmunder David Gunnlaugsson out of office, Iceland’s government announced that it would hold elections in autumn.
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The Progressive Party and the Independence Party agreed after talks late Wednesday to hand the prime minister post to the current agriculture minister, Sigurdur Ingi Johannssonn, 53, of the Progressives.
Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson has stepped down following the leak of the Panama Papers in which he was named as one of the world leaders involved in one of the largest offshore finance scandals in history.
A opinion survey published by several Icelandic media outlets puts the Pirate Party’s public support at a staggering 43 percent, while the PM’s Progressive Party is said to command only 7.9 percent, a far cry from the 24 percent it received in the previous election.
The revelations on Gunnlaugsson have resulted in public protests in Iceland where thousands of people assembled outside parliament in the past week calling for immediate elections.
The government of Panama rebutted the OECD’s critique, saying Panama has been made out to be the single scapegoat, even though the so-called Panama Papers mention 21 other countries, Presidential Minister Alvaro Aleman said Tuesday. Birgitta Jonsdottir, head of the Pirate Party, told Reuters. Many Icelanders still harbor a strong distrust of their leaders.
But the issue is particularly sensitive in Iceland, a country marked by the excesses of the 2000s when senior bankers used shell companies in tax havens to hide their dealings in risky financial products which ultimately led to the 2008 collapse of the nation’s three main banks. His opponents have said that represents a conflict of interest, because the government is negotiating the value of such claims.
“I’m here for many reasons”, said Jon Thor Olafsson, a 33-year-old musician who protested near parliament on Wednesday.
Mr Gunnlaugsson did not declare Wintris, which held millions in the bonds of failed Icelandic banks, when he entered parliament, according to the International Consortium of Journalists.
Mr Gunnlaugsson has denied any wrongdoing.
After eight months of acquiring the company, Gunnlaugsson shared 50% of his share in the company to his wife, Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir, for $1. The money came from the sale of her share in her family’s business, she said.
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Tom Patterson, chief trust officer at Unisys, says he suspects the law firm does not encrypt its email server or compartmentalize the information, making it possible for anybody who breached the server to get access to the entire database.
