Europeans are splitting their votes among ever more parties
That means better representation but clunkier governance
AFTER two months and three failed rounds of negotiations, Iceland has a government at last. On January 10th Bjarni Benediktsson, leader of the Independence Party, announced that he had struck a deal with two other centre-right groups. Yet his tenure as prime minister may be short. Opposition politicians are already calling for a vote of no confidence and fresh elections. And even if the coalition survives for the moment, with a measly one-seat majority, it is unlikely to last long.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline "Going to bits"
Europe January 14th 2017
- The French left faces a grim election year
- Guy Verhofstadt’s strange, doomed flirtation with Beppe Grillo
- It is harder than ever to understand Italy’s Five Star Movement
- The Yugoslav tribunal shuts down, a Kosovo tribunal starts up
- Europeans are splitting their votes among ever more parties
- The cruel sea
From the January 14th 2017 edition
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