In Iceland the political situation has moved on very quickly. The anti-government protests continued and they were not quite as peaceful as they had been previously. In this context on 26 January Prime Minister Haarde announced the end of the coalition.

Initially, there was a plan for the Independence Party/Social Democratic Alliance to be replaced by a five-party coalition government. However, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, the leader of the Social Democratic Alliance, wanted her party to have the premiership, even though Haarde’s Independence Party has more seats in the Alþingi. As a result, the Independence Party appears to have pulled out of government talks altogether

In this context, Gísladóttir, announced that she is proposing Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, the Social Welfare minister in the previous government, as the new prime minister. The speculation is that the Social Democratic Alliance will form a minority coalition with the Left-Green Party and that the government will be supported by the Progressive Party and, less formally, by the Liberal Party in the Alþingi.

Morgunblaðið reports that the Icelandic president has been organising the coalition arrangements. The new government is likely to bring forward the date of the election (currently 9 May) and that if a government cannot be formed now, then the president will dissolve Alþingi immediately.