"The left-leaning parties — the Left-Greens, the Pirates and two allies — won 27 seats, just short of the 32 required to command a majority in Iceland’s Parliament, the world’s oldest."
and
"About 40 percent of Pirate supporters are under the age of 30. They had pinned their hopes on a party that has promised to install a more inclusive and transparent government."
and
"The Pirates have pledged to enhance direct democracy by passing the world’s first “crowd-sourced constitution,” drafted by Icelandic civilians rather than politicians. Parliament blocked the document in 2013."
> drafted by Icelandic civilians rather than politicians.
What was the process for this to be? Having folks who are untrained in law draft a constitution and then passing it sounds... well about as dumb as having folks who've just learned to program write an operating system and put it in production.
With the left gaining so much power, they should probably be worried about US-backed assassination or government toppling... They have no idea what they're getting in to.
Either I missed something or this is wildly inaccurate.
The PM's party lost much support in this election, in particular the coalition they're in doesn't have majority. This was expected.
I find no Icelandic news about him resigning. On the contrary he says he's not going anywhere as the party leader for the Progressive party.
NYT might have misunderstood the entirely customary "request for release from duty" that the PM makes to the president on behalf of his cabinet. This is a normal formality after a majority coalition loses parliament majority. The president (which in Iceland is just a figurehead) then usually asks the cabinet to remain until a new coalition has been formed, at which time he gives a new coalition agency to form a new cabinet. This is just normal procedure, and nothing newsworthy.
Pirates tripled the number of seats since last election, but they have been polling much higher, towards 30% support on par with the Independence party.
But, inaccurate foreign news of Icelandic politics seems more normal than accurate ones.
I actually have mixed feeling about the Pirate Party. I do agree with their major points about economy and social issues for instance.
But the part that leaves me really uneasy is this idea they have of bringing: direct democracy to people and let them vote for a lot of issues.
After Brexit, do we really want to give the people the power to vote in issues that are way above the knowledge of most of the voters and to have media skewing and manipulating their views of the problem according to the interests of the few ones commanding the media?
Keep in mind when considering Iceland in terms of politics or economics that it is tiny. 300,000 people means you can do things you can't with 300+ million. And vice-versa.
[+] [-] joubert|9 years ago|reply
"The left-leaning parties — the Left-Greens, the Pirates and two allies — won 27 seats, just short of the 32 required to command a majority in Iceland’s Parliament, the world’s oldest."
and
"About 40 percent of Pirate supporters are under the age of 30. They had pinned their hopes on a party that has promised to install a more inclusive and transparent government."
and
"The Pirates have pledged to enhance direct democracy by passing the world’s first “crowd-sourced constitution,” drafted by Icelandic civilians rather than politicians. Parliament blocked the document in 2013."
[+] [-] afarrell|9 years ago|reply
What was the process for this to be? Having folks who are untrained in law draft a constitution and then passing it sounds... well about as dumb as having folks who've just learned to program write an operating system and put it in production.
[+] [-] rahrahrah|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] arnarbi|9 years ago|reply
The PM's party lost much support in this election, in particular the coalition they're in doesn't have majority. This was expected.
I find no Icelandic news about him resigning. On the contrary he says he's not going anywhere as the party leader for the Progressive party.
NYT might have misunderstood the entirely customary "request for release from duty" that the PM makes to the president on behalf of his cabinet. This is a normal formality after a majority coalition loses parliament majority. The president (which in Iceland is just a figurehead) then usually asks the cabinet to remain until a new coalition has been formed, at which time he gives a new coalition agency to form a new cabinet. This is just normal procedure, and nothing newsworthy.
Pirates tripled the number of seats since last election, but they have been polling much higher, towards 30% support on par with the Independence party.
But, inaccurate foreign news of Icelandic politics seems more normal than accurate ones.
(source: am Icelandic)
[+] [-] jbmorgado|9 years ago|reply
But the part that leaves me really uneasy is this idea they have of bringing: direct democracy to people and let them vote for a lot of issues.
After Brexit, do we really want to give the people the power to vote in issues that are way above the knowledge of most of the voters and to have media skewing and manipulating their views of the problem according to the interests of the few ones commanding the media?
[+] [-] harry8|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] TheRealPomax|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ckdarby|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DarkLinkXXXX|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] DanBC|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] binarytransform|9 years ago|reply