A new leader for Bright Future?

Leader of Iceland’s Bright Future Party (‘Björt framtíð’), Guðmund­ur Stein­gríms­son, has come under fire from party colleagues as support for the party reaches worrying lows.

Bright Future was founded in 2012 as a pro-European liberal party in the centre of the Icelandic political spectrum and immediately won six parliamentary seats (8% of the vote) in the 2013 general elections.

At its highest, support for the party jumped the 20% mark, but the most recent MMR opinion poll has shown that support has fallen off to just 4.4% – below the 5% required to return an MP to the Icelandic Parliament (‘Alþingi’).

With just 4.4% support, one of Iceland’s current ‘major’ parties would therefore exit Alþingi at the next general elections.

Sigurður Björn Blöndal, Bright Future chairman of a Reykjavik district council, has told Icelandic national broadcaster RÚV that party leader Guðmund­ur Stein­gríms­son should reconsider his position.

Heiða Krist­ín Helga­dótt­ir, deputy MP for Bright Future, has indicated that she would be prepared to take over leadership of the party if desired. She has criticised Stein­gríms­son, saying that he has already had sufficient leeway to prove himself as party leader.