Bjarni Benediktsson said on Tuesday he will become the country’s next prime minister, succeeding Katrin Jakobsdottir, who announced last week she would step down and run for president.
Benediktsson, head of the pro-business right-wing Independence Party, is now foreign minister in a broad three-party coalition and was previously prime minister in a short-lived government from January to November 2017.
He took the helm at a time of uncertainty in Iceland after recent volcanic eruptions led to the indefinite evacuation of thousands of people, adding pressure to an economy already facing high inflation and soaring interest rates. The Independence Party said in a statement:
“The parties had very good discussions in the past few days … the government wants to stand for political stability.”
The government has been in power since 2017, providing unusual stability in a country that went to the polls five times between 2007 and 2017, a period marked by political scandals and distrust of politicians after the 2008 financial crisis.
Benediktsson also served as finance minister in Jakobsdottir’s government, where he took the first steps to limit state ownership of the banking sector more than a decade after the industry collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis.
His tenure as prime minister in 2017 was cut short less than a year later when one of his coalition partners quit the government, leading to snap elections.
In Iceland, the Prime Minister is the head of government and usually has a seat in parliament. Officially, he is appointed by the president and exercises executive power with the cabinet with the support of parliament. The president, on the other hand, is a ceremonial figure and head of state, voted for by the public, and has limited political power.
