Svavarsdóttir wants to lead the Left-Green Movement

Svandís Svavarsdóttir, Minister of Infrastructure, plans to run for the position of chairman of the Left-Green Movement. She confirmed this to a journalist after the cabinet meeting yesterday.

The party's national meeting will be held at the beginning of next month, where, among other things, the party's leadership will be voted on.

Yesterday, Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor Market and the party's current chairman announced that he did not intend to run for chairman. However, he planned to support Svavarsdóttir and run for the position of vice-chairman himself.

Jódís Skúladóttir, Member of Parliament for the Left Green Party, has also announced to run for the post of vice-chairman.

Difficult issues will be discussed

Svavarsdóttir says that it was not easy to decide whether she should run for the chair of the Left-Green Movement. She had to think about it for a long time.

"This is not a simple task. I had to think like everyone has to do when they are at a turning point in their life, they have to think about both the political side as well as the personal side."

Wants elections as soon as spring

Svavarsdóttir is quoted saying to RÚV that she wants to speed up the parliamentary elections so that the elections will be held this spring, and not next fall as is planned.

She states that she has a lot of experience and has worked with all VG chairpersons.

"I have a good feeling about where VG is coming from, but at the same time I am a human being and think about priorities in my life. However, I felt that the fire was still there, and a burning desire to raise the flag of the Left-Green Movement higher. It aligns very well with my values."

Svavarsdóttir believes that it is possible to sharpen the strong voice that VG always intended to be. "I hope that with my colleagues I can make our voice even stronger."

The government is expected to be discussed

In the last podcast episode of the Backroom, where the journalist Þórhallur Gunnarsson and the PR consultant, Andrés Jónsson, talk about politics, it was stated, among other things, that there was a possibility that a proposal to terminate the government cooperation immediately would be presented at the the party's national meeting. The proposal would be presented by the grassroots and that there was some support for such a proposal within the party.

Asked about this, Svavarsdóttir says he does not have an overview of the resolutions that have been received in the run-up to the meeting. However, she assumes that government cooperation will be discussed at the meeting.

"I think it would be very strange if we were to discuss our cooperation in the government and elsewhere where we cooperate. It is always a certain challenge with parties and political movements that have a clear vision to share their goals with people who may have a completely different opinion," she says.

"When we are at the point where we want to look inward and want to look at the roots, this must be on the agenda and this is definitely one of the things we want to discuss," she adds.

Following our political character

Asked if it is an indicator of a split within the party, she says:

"It has always been our focus in the Left-Green Movement that our political existence is not only about content and policy but also how we talk to each other. We want to have the freedom to have different opinions and different priorities. We can also listen to each other. I think we are just following our political character, we talk about these things at a national meeting like various other complex and difficult issues."