Iceland govt collapses, new election set for November

Reykjavik: Iceland s three party coalition government collapsed on Sunday over disagreements on policy issues, Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson said...

Reykjavik: Iceland's three-party coalition government collapsed on Sunday over disagreements on policy issues, Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson said, with new elections to be held in November.

Benediktsson, head of the conservative Independence Party, told reporters that tensions had mounted within the left-right coalition on issues ranging from foreign policy to asylum seekers and energy.

The coalition had been made up of the Independence Party, the Left-Green Movement and the centre-right Progressive Party.

The issues "were less discussed in the last election than need to be discussed now", Benediktsson said, emphasising "how different the (Left-Green) Movement's vision for the future is, compared to what I want to stand for".

"It is best if the government has a common vision," he told the online media site Visir, adding: "It's disappointing when projects run aground or circumstances change."