First, Prime Minister Geir Haarde. Then, Commerce Minister Bjorgvin Sigurdsson. Now, Jónas Fr. Jónsson, director of the Financial Supervisory Authority (FME), and the entire FME board. Ministers and officials are quitting one by one, unable to withstand the wrath of the people of Iceland demanding their immediate resignation. Haarde’s proposal that new elections be held in May has not appeased the irate Icelanders, and protests are continuing.
According to one opinion poll, cited in the Financial Times, if elections were held now, the Left-Green Movement (VG) would win with 28.5 percent of the vote, compared with 24.3 percent for Haarde’s Independence Party and 17 percent for the Social Democratic Alliance. Another poll cited by Reuters predicts that as much as 32.6 percent will vote for VG, more than doubling the VG vote in the 2007 parliamentary elections.