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A Nation Decides 13th May 2007 REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Iceland's pro-business government coalition held onto its majority by a single seat on Sunday with 99 percent of votes counted in a cliff-hanger election that pitted economic against environmental interests. Some 1,000 votes from the northwest of Iceland, which has a population of just 300,000, were still to be counted. "It's going to be really exciting to see the last results," University of Iceland political science professor Olafur Hardarson said, adding that even that small number of voters had a slim chance of altering the balance of power. With 99 percent of the vote counted, Prime Minister Geir Haarde's Independence Party had 24 seats, a gain of two seats. Coalition partner the Progressive Party won eight seats, down from its current 12, which gave the coalition the 32 seats it needed to retain a majority in the 63-seat parliament after a count that swung back and forth through the night. Iceland does not have a tradition of minority governments. Hardarson said coalition talks may still lie ahead for Haarde's party since the Progressives may opt to leave government after a weak showing. The margins were razor-thin throughout the count -- narrowing to three votes at one point -- leading experts to predict early on that opposition parties would be able to form a government-toppling coalition. Haarde has said his natural second coalition choice is the Social Democrats, whose leader Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir had hoped to lead an opposition government and become Iceland's first woman prime minister. The election has been dominated by a single issue, the tempo of big industrial development in Iceland. The long-ruling Independence-Progressive Party coalition wants aluminium giants such as Alcoa to keep building smelters powered by Iceland's geothermal and hydroelectric resources, a trend that has driven rapid economic growth in recent years. Main opposition parties the Left Greens and Social Democrats want development halted until the environmental and economic impact of the latest projects becomes clear. Voter turnout at 82 percent of the 221,000 eligible voters was down from 87 percent in 2003 elections. The Left Greens made the biggest advance in the election, and looked set to rise from five seats to nine. Political scientists have said the party's strong performance reflected Icelanders' unhappiness with unfettered industry growth. Public discontent has centred on worries about dam projects on Iceland's rivers to power the smelters and record-high borrowing costs in a fast-growing economy. By Audbjorg
Olafsdottir and Sarah Edmonds - Reuters |