Icelanders oust government over austerity

  • 11 years ago
Iceland's centre-right are back in power five years after presiding over the country's spectacular economic collapse.

With over two-thirds of the vote counted the Independence Party has 26 percent and the Progressive Party, an ally in several governments over the past three decades, 22 percent.

Despite holding office in 2008, when a financial crash crippled the economy, the centre-right parties benefited from a series of policy blunders by the outgoing Social Democrats.

The right campaigned on tax cuts and easing household debt, arguing that families should no longer shoulder the cost of recovery.

They argue foreign creditors will have to accept a massive write-off, perhaps as much as 75 percent.

Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson is favourite to become the next prime minister.

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