Better far to live and die, under the brave black flag I fly

December 5, 2016 11:00 AM

After placing third in the October election (previously), and following the failure of talks between other parties to form a coalition, the Pirate Party of Iceland has been invited to form government.

Currently boasting 10 stalwart MPs in Iceland's parliament, the Pirates must now forge an alliance between the other parties to reach a 32 seat majority.

posted by mrjohnmuller (30 comments total)

Do they have to form a coalition government or can they govern as a minority government? Are minority governments not allowed in the Icelandic system?
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 11:08 AM on December 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

By custom, the prime minister and cabinet are chosen by parties that represent a majority of the Althingi. If no single party holds a majority and nobody can form a coalition, the president has the power to appoint a government him- or herself, but no one has ever actually used that power. Since the office is almost entirely ceremonial it would probably touch off a constitutional crisis.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 11:19 AM on December 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

I'm reading Iceland's constitution right now, and I don't see anything that answers that exactly. I presume that, with so many parties in their parliament, minority governments are pretty frequent, and 32 just represents the number of MP votes required to get anything done. Maybe a coalition can't be said to have a mandate unless they hit that number.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 11:19 AM on December 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

It is, it is a glorious thing to be a pirate king prime minister.
posted by Johnny Assay at 11:21 AM on December 5, 2016 [6 favorites]

and 32 just represents the number of MP votes required to get anything done.

It doesn't seem to say that anywhere. It seems like laws could pass with fewer than 32 votes as long as the number of votes for is larger than the number of votes against. That's how minority government's usually operate (fewer than half the MPs vote for a bill, but even fewer vote against it. ).
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 11:23 AM on December 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

And 32 would be the majority. A government with 32 seats would be a majority government. It appears to be a very small parliament.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 11:23 AM on December 5, 2016

People so enjoyed Borgen that they decided to do it in real life? Who plays the sexy conflicted spin doctor?
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:30 AM on December 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

Well this is exciting!

I had the same Borgen thoughts... but she was the moderate, and the Pirate Party are more the radicals? Led by women, though.

My fervent hope is that this is the beginning of the trend towards and awesome 2017.
posted by chapps at 11:32 AM on December 5, 2016 [3 favorites]

If only I had a penguin...: "That's how minority government's usually operate"

Interesting the differences in parliamentary systems. You don't see that very often in Canada; Whips ensure there isn't much abstention. Instead the minority government needs to get one of the other parties to support their bill.
posted by Mitheral at 11:32 AM on December 5, 2016

Apparently there are a few sticking points in the negotiations so far, with the Pirate Party demanding:

1. Every member has a vote in affairs of moment; has equal title to the fresh provisions, or strong liquors, at any time seized, and may use them at pleasure, unless a scarcity makes it necessary, for the good of all, to vote a retrenchment.

2. The lights and candles to be put out at eight o'clock at night: if any of the members, after that hour still remain inclined for drinking, they are to do it on the open deck.
posted by Kabanos at 11:44 AM on December 5, 2016 [10 favorites]

That's exactly how minority government's operate in Canada. I was basing that statement on Canada.

Bills gets passed because opposition MPs just happen to be at their riding office that day, or out to pee at the moment the vote happens or needed to pick their kids up from daycare early etc. etc. etc. Nobody really wants to bring down the government over every single bill, even when they don't support a bil so they just arrange to make sure there aren't too many opposition MPs in the room when the vote takes place. Even when a minority party supports the bill, the bill can often pass without a majority of MPs. Here's an example of a bill passed with less than a majority of seats. Here's another. Note the number of Liberal Didn't Votes.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 11:45 AM on December 5, 2016

It appears to be a very small parliament.

"All the small Things - true care, truth brings." - TM De Longe
posted by Copronymus at 12:06 PM on December 5, 2016

God, I love Iceland.

Sadly, about the only way to immigrate appears to be marrying an Icelander, and I'm pretty sure my wife would veto that. She would also veto winter.
posted by Naberius at 12:08 PM on December 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

By custom, the prime minister and cabinet are chosen by parties that represent a majority of the Althingi.

Can I just say that The Althingi is maybe the best name for a government body, like, ever?
posted by rokusan at 12:12 PM on December 5, 2016 [3 favorites]

I'm sorry, winterhill, but you cannot confuse me with magical etymology shenanigans, no matter how accurate and wise.

The Althingi is clearly an intergalactic body from an Ursula LeGuin novel.
posted by rokusan at 12:56 PM on December 5, 2016 [7 favorites]

As long as the Pirate Party has a plank in their platform bringing back what.cd, they can do no wrong in my book.
posted by Purposeful Grimace at 1:01 PM on December 5, 2016

I would totally marry an Icelander for love and/or citizenship; the sticking point is whether any Icelander would marry me (sob!)

Iceland is definitely one of those countries I feel vaguely positive towards, to the point of e.g. definitely taking their part in the Supermarket vs Country trademark grumbles I was reading about earlier today. Soft power, ladies and gentlefriends!
posted by comealongpole at 1:18 PM on December 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

It appears to be a very small parliament.

Iceland has only 330,000 people, so that'd be about one member of parliament for each 5,000 or so; which is roughly twice the MPs per capita that Westminster has.
posted by acb at 2:18 PM on December 5, 2016 [1 favorite]

As long as the Pirate Party has a plank in their platform

No planks; capital punishment is illegal in Iceland.
posted by acb at 2:21 PM on December 5, 2016 [2 favorites]

Iceland just sentenced their 26th banker to prison for his part in the 2008 economic collapse. The charges ranged from breach of fiduciary duties to market manipulation to embezzlement.
posted by Postroad at 3:26 PM on December 5, 2016 [9 favorites]

I'm sure one of our resident MefIcelanders will come in to do so eventually, but I would just like to remind people that 330,000 real people live in Iceland and the government actually affects them. So let's not treat this entirely as an opportunity for pirate jokes.
posted by 256 at 7:14 PM on December 5, 2016 [5 favorites]

On further reflection, even if minority governments are allowed, they only have 10 MPs, which means every time there was a vote 50+ of the 65ish MPs would have to arrange to coincidentally by out of the room. That probably doesn't make for the most functional parliament.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 7:35 PM on December 5, 2016

I wrote quite a bit about the parties in the thread mrjohnmuller linked to in this post, so I'm not going to rehash that, except to say that the Pirate Party is trying to restart the process of forming a five party majority government which floundered before, when the negotiations were led by the Left-Greens. The other three parties are the Social Democratic Alliance, Bright Future and Viðreisn (their name is sometimes translated as Reform, but since that's inaccurate and the party doesn't seem to have settled on a name, I'll just use Viðreisn).

I'll admit that this is the government I would like to see formed, but that said there's quite a lot of pessimism about whether anything will come of it. The last attempt failed after Viðreisn balked at the prospect of raising any taxes at all. Most of the other four parties, and especially the Left-Greens, campaigned on the promise of raising taxes on the rich (e.g. capital gains and taxes on fishing companies and so on) to put more money into the healthcare system, welfare, infrastructure work, and other such things that have been underfunded since the financial collapse. Viðreisn had said they were for all that during the campaign, but they seem more ideologically opposed to raising taxes than anyone thought, even they themselves.
posted by Kattullus at 1:18 AM on December 6, 2016 [7 favorites]

Kattullus, your great comment on the last thread really solidified my new years resolution to pay less attention to American politics and more attention to Icelandic politics.

Keep giving me hope, tiny island, so relatively close to the Maritimes.
posted by mrjohnmuller at 7:51 AM on December 6, 2016 [1 favorite]

One thing I thought was significant was that the president appointed Birgitta Jónsdóttir to try to form a government. She's an MP and probably the most popular Pirate politician, but she's not the party's parliamentary leader and so wouldn't (normally) be in line to be the party's prime minister.

She may end up putting together a coalition where somebody else, probably Katrín Jakobsdóttir, the Left Green Movement's parliamentary leader, becomes the prime minister.
posted by nangar at 1:10 AM on December 7, 2016

Birgitta Jónsdóttir is relinquishing the permission to form a government. As far as I can tell from the reporting, it was the same problem as last time. The Left-Greens wanted to put more money into healthcare, welfare and infrastructure, and wanted to raise a large part of the funds necessary through taxation. Most of these taxes are on various businesses and capital gains. Viðreisn couldn't agree to that amount of tax increases.

The negotiations seem to have been a bit chaotic this time around. Apparently no concrete proposals were on the table until yesterday. I'm not sure if that was a negotiation strategy by the Pirate Party or if the five parties were just so far apart that it was impossible to get any kind of proposal together until yesterday. The negotiators only went to their parliamentary parties today to get an agreement to continue. The only confirmed yeses were from the Social Democratic Alliance and the Pirate Party. I'm not entirely sure about the other three.
posted by Kattullus at 8:37 AM on December 12, 2016 [4 favorites]

All I can say is I hope y'all get a government soon.
posted by nangar at 1:17 PM on December 12, 2016

We get by. If we end up as the Belgium of the North, I hope we get some good beer, chocolate, and comics to go along with the lack of a government.
posted by Kattullus at 3:23 PM on December 12, 2016 [1 favorite]

All I can say is I hope y'all get a government soon.

As an American, I'm kind of envying Iceland's lack of a government. Still, I take your point.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:37 PM on December 12, 2016 [2 favorites]

Latest reports is that a right-wing government of the Independence Party, Bright Future and Viðreisn will be formed. Bjarni Benediktsson, chairman of the Independence Party, will become prime minister. The government will have a single seat majority in parliament.

This will be the third (second? fourth? I've lost count) attempt at forming this particular majority government since the election. In an interview after meeting with the President, Bjarni Benediktsson said that the parties were looking to have formed a government by January 24th.

Going by their public statements and votes in parliament since the election, this will be another very right-wing government. The main difference is that the outgoing government had a strong streak of nationalism which will be a lot more muted in this one.

But like with the last one, this government will be led by a man who kept money in offshore accounts. This time it's no surprise to voters though.
posted by Kattullus at 9:23 AM on December 30, 2016 [2 favorites]