Iceland’s prime minister resigned on Tuesday, becoming the first casualty of the leaked revelations over offshore companies.
For the second time in a decade, the island of just 320,000 people has become the centre of global attention over financial excesses, even as it remains deeply divided over the collapse of its banks in 2008.
“This is the second phase. The first phase was the practical part of clearing up after a massive banking failure. What we are looking at now is the bankruptcy of politics and certain politicians,” said Huginn Thorsteinsson, a leftwing political consultant.
In a day of high drama in Reykjavik, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson first tried to hold on to the premiership by seeking the dissolution of parliament. But after the president refused to grant the request, Mr Gunnlaugsson decided to step down as prime minister but carry on as the head of his centre-right Progressive party.
As tensions escalated on Tuesday evening, Mr Gunnlaugsson denied that he had formally proposed a dissolution of parliament, in effect accusing the president of lying.
With his resignation he became the second centre-right prime minister in Iceland to be forced out in recent years by popular protest after the so-called pots and pans revolt of 2009 led to the resignation of Geir Haarde and the formation of the country’s first leftwing government.
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