15 September, 2017
One of Iceland's three coalition parties said on Friday it would quit the government formed just nine months ago, citing a "breach of trust" after the prime minister's party allegedly tried to cover up a scandal involving his father.
It only emerged on Thursday that it was Benedikt Sveinsson, Prime Minister Benediktsson's father, but the prime minister is said to have been informed about his involvement in July.
The Nordic island nation could now face a second snap election in a year, following the collapse of the last government over the Panama Papers scandal that embroiled several ministers and forced former prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson to resign.
Benediktsson's father, Benedikt Sveinsson, an entrepeneur, is at the centre of the latest crisis as he reportedly signed a letter of recommendation for a man, convicted in 2004 of having raped his stepdaughter nearly every day for 12 years, so he could erase his criminal record.
In Iceland it's possible for convicted paedophiles to apply to have their record wiped of their past convictions.
"That goes against our policies here at Bright Future on transparency and a good way of working", said party leader Ottarr Proppe.
Protests were called for on Friday in Reykjavik, which has seen raucous street demonstrations both after the country's economic collapse in 2008 and during the Panama Paper's scandal previous year.
A large majority of Icelanders called for the country's political establishment to be voted out of office, including Benediktsson, whose name appeared in the Panama Papers.
"In light of the situation, the Reform party believes the right thing to do is to call an election immediately", it said in a statement. Iceland's economy is booming after the government earlier this year dismantled the last of the capital controls that had been in place since 2008.
The current coalition was formed in January after two months of negotiations as the Independence Party, which resisted a challenge from the populist Pirate Party to win the most votes in an October 29 snap elections, replaced its traditional coalition party, the Progressive Party, with the two new junior allies.
Icelandic journalist Hjortur Gudmundsson says the coalition's position was already fragile, as it had a majority of only one parliamentary seat before Bright Future withdrew its support.
