Icelandic parliamentary election, 2017

[Deleted]

The ministers will not be announced until the plenary session of the three parliamentary parties today, but the portfolio distribution is:

LG:

Prime Minister
Environment
Health

Speaker

Its the two old BF ministries, which may be a bad omen, but LG had to have Environment and healthcare is the no. 1 priority of both this government and the voters, and its a department where many in LG wouldn't trust an IP ministers to effectively block privatization. The PM keeps control of the Central Bank, which was transferred from the Ministry of Finance when IP "lost" Finance to Viðreisn in the previous government.

IP:

Finance
Foreign Affairs
Justice
Fisheries and Agriculture
Industry and Tourism

IP do not get the sixth portfolio or the Speaker, but keep Foreign Affairs, Justice and Industry and Tourism, and gain Fisheries and Agriculture, which means they will be in charge of three most prestigious ministeries apart from PM, and all production related departments.

PP:

Transport and Local Government
Education and Culture
Welfare

PP are the losers in the "ministry game" and have paid a high price for keeping the government together (they could have easily gotten both Finance and Business in the Left/Centre coalition). They initially wanted Foreign Affairs and Business, when that wasn't possible SIJ wanted Fishing and Agriculture for himself, but IP had to be "paid" to give up the sixth portfolio (which would have made it look like an IP+ government and wasn't acceptable to the others), control of Central Bank and the Speaker (which LG wanted as a compensation for accepting lesser portfolios).

[Deleted]

The two LG rebels Rósa Björk Brynjólfsdóttir and Andrés Ingi Jónsson are staying the parliamentary group.

The LG ministers will be:

PM Katrín Jakobsdóttir
Minister of Health Svandís Svavarsdóttir
Minister of Environment Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson (the CEO of the environmental protection/conservation organization Landsvernd

Speaker Steingrímur J. Sigfússon will be President of Parliament.

The pick of Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson is motivated by "big projects ahead in the area of ​​environmental issues", but also with the potential shortage of committee members if the two "rebels" defect from the group. Gender equality wasn't mentioned, but having three female ministers (which would have been the result if the third minister was recruited internally) might also have been seen as undesirable. Anyway, the country's Chief Conservationist is now in charge of environmental protection. 

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The remaining cabinet:

IP:

Finance: Bjarni Benediktsson
Foreign Affairs: Guðlaugur Þór Þórðarson (his current portfolio)
Justice: Sigríður Á. Andersen (keeps her current portfolio as expected, but a very controversial choice)
Fisheries and Agriculture: Kristján Þór Júlíusson (ex-Minister of Education and Culture)
Industry and Tourism: Þórdís Kolbrún R. Gylfadóttir (her current portfolio)

PP:

Transport, Local Government and Nordic Co-operation: Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson (very "small" department for a party leader)
Education and Culture: Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir
Social Affairs: Ásmundur Einar Daðason (surprising choice as both LG and the leadership distrust him and their experienced group chairman was expected to get it, but may simply be to secure his loyalty)

With two male PP ministers and one male LG minister its not going to be the first female majority government after all. Six men and five women.

[Deleted]

[Deleted]

The new foreign minister has very good contacts to the Tories (and US Republicans incl. Maine governor Paul Le Page).

[Foggy]

All I know of LePage is that my father does not speak highly of him, but that he is also apparently still alarmingly popular upstate where Trump won an Electoral College seat last year.

[Devil Wincarnate]

Right, unless I receive any requests to the contrary, I will remove the various argumentative posts tomorrow to declutter this thread.