Five parties open talks on Iceland coalition

Reykjavik (dpa) - Talks opened Monday on forming a new five-party coalition government in Iceland, Left Green Movement leader Katrin Jakobsdottir said.Her party and the four envisaged partners were to meet in four groups to determine "whether there is a base for government coalition between these parties," she told public broadcaster RUV.The groups would consider labour and environmental issues, economic and fiscal policy, welfare and education, as well as foreign policy and constitutional affairs. They were expected to present an outcome Tuesday.Jakobsdottir said she had informed President Gudni Johannesson late Sunday after all parties had agreed to start the discussions.The president last week tasked Jakobsdottir with forming a government after Bjarni Benediktsson, leader of the conservative Independence Party, announced he was breaking off talks on a mooted coalition of three centre-right parties. Jakobsdottir‘s party finished second in last month‘s elections with 10 seats. The five-party coalition would have 34 seats in the 63-seat legislature.If the coalition comes to fruition, it would comprise Jakobsdottir‘s party, the Pirate Party, the Social Democratic Alliance as well as the two parties involved in failed talks with Benediktsson: Bright Future and the Reconstruction Party. The talks sideline the Progressive Party and Benediktsson‘s conservatives that formed the outgoing government.Benediktsson‘s Independence Party last month won 21 seats, making it the largest of the seven parties in parliament.