Icelanders vote in a legislative election Saturday after the collapse of a fraught coalition prompted a snap poll where the economy is a top concern. Battling inflation and high interest rates, the economy, housing and healthcare have dominated the campaign for the 268,000 people eligible to vote. Most voting stations will be open between 9:00 am (0900 GMT) and 10:00 pm.
Fears have been raised that some voters may struggle to reach polling stations as heavy snowfall and strong winds have been predicted for some regions. "I feel we need change," 48-year-old film producer Grimar Jonsson, told AFP in Reykjavik. Jonsson said he hoped to see a change of government and "getting rid of so-called old-fashioned political parties.
" Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson's three-party, left-right coalition resigned in October. The coalition of Benediktsson's Independence Party, the Left-Green Movement and the centre-right Progressive Party was divided on a range of issues but broke down over the handling of migrants and asylum seekers. Despite causing the demise of the government, immigration is not a galvanising issue.
One in five residents in the country is foreign-born. "It is very prominent in the public debate amongst politicians, but still it does not seem to be an issue that people are putting at the front of their list of important issues," Eirikur Bergmann, a politics professor at Bifrost University, told AFP. According to a Gallup poll published in early November, only 32 percent .