Dissolves parliament and calls for elections
Halla Tómasdóttir, the President of Iceland. mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson
Halla Tómasdóttir, the President of Iceland, intends to agree to the Prime Minister's request to dissolve Parliament. She plans to announce a break in Alþingi on October 17, and subsequent elections will be called on November 30.
Tómasdóttir said this after a meeting with Bjarni Benediktsson, chairman of the Independence Party.
Benediktsson told reporters when he went to the meeting that he had come to ask for a solution for himself and his ministry.
Tómasdóttir and Benediktsson also met in Bessastaðir yesterday, where he requested that the parliament be dissolved. Subsequently, the president met with the chairmen of the opposition parties and later with Svandís Svavarsdóttir and Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson, chairmen of the Left-Green Movement and the Progressive Party.
The government sits as a temporary acting government
"The Prime Minister went to my meeting here in Bessastaðir today and asked for dissolving his government. I have agreed to his request," Tómasdóttir said.
She says that she requested the outgoing government to stay on as an acting government until a new government was formed.
"My primary duty as president is to ensure that the country has a functioning government. A government that has asked for a release sits as a temporary acting government. This means that it performs the duties necessary for the day-to-day administration of the country."
Important matters can be completed
She said members of parliament keep their mandate until election day, and therefore they could finish important issues before them.
"Then we go to the elections. For that reason, I would like to express the wish to the parliament and the nation that we work hard in the conversation that is ahead and concerns the future of this nation.
A functioning democracy requires an exchange of opinions, and in a healthy society we can all exchange opinions with respect, humanity and honesty as a guide."
