Iceland’s President Asks Leftist Opposition Leader to Form New Government
Iceland’s president asked the leader of the Left-Green Movement, Katrin Jakobsdottir, on Thursday to form a new government, although it came second in Saturday’s parliamentary election. The mandate deals a blow to Prime Minister Bjarne Benediktsson of the Independence Party who called the snap election in September after less than a year in office as a scandal involving his father prompted a government ally to drop out of his ruling coalition. The Nordic island of 340,000 people, one of the countries hit hardest by the 2008 financial crisis, has seen an economic rebound spurred by a tourism boom. But a …