Turning Page, Iceland Elects New Leaders

冰岛的偏左政党联盟上周六以绝对多数击败保守派赢得大选，20年来，保守派一直掌控冰岛政坛，并因去年秋季冰岛银行系统崩溃而受到人们的普遍批评。AFP/Getty Images上周六晚间，冰岛代理总理斯古达道特庆祝胜利冰岛国有电视台RUV报导，根据截止周日下午统计的投票结果，社会民主党(Social Democratic Alliance)将获得63个国会中的20席，与其联盟的左派绿色运动(Left-Green Movement)拿下14席，两党由此实现绝对多数地位。两党得票率合计略高于半数。两党联盟自2月以来临时执政，当时经济危机迫使保守派的独立党(Independence Party)总理及其内阁辞职。冰岛代理总理斯古达道特(Johanna Sigurdardottir)将留任。斯古达道特今年66岁，来自社会民主党。斯古达道特曾当过空姐组织过工会，现已从政多年。据美联社(Associated Press)报导，她在周六的选举庆祝活动中说，全国民众决定跟执政太久的独立党及其奉行的新自由主义算帐。独立党得票率为24%，在国会中获得16席，这是至少45年来的最差成绩。自上世纪90年代初以来，独立党主导了包括银行业在内的一系列私有化行动，推动了冰岛缺乏活力的国有为主的经济，实现了经济的繁荣发展。但经过长达数年的借贷增长之后，急剧膨胀的冰岛各家银行在去年10月的信贷危机中崩溃，民意随之迅速发生转变，选民们周六用手中的选票惩罚了独立党。冰岛国内生产总值(GDP)预计今年将收缩10%，今年第一季度失业率高达7.1%，比上年同期增长两倍以上。偏左政党联盟获胜也让冰岛离加入欧盟更进了一步，这是社会民主党的一个重大目标。左派绿色运动反对加入欧盟。但一些规模较小的政党支持加入欧盟，并在周六的选举中获得了不错的成绩。独立党一直反对加入欧盟，对欧盟的监管持谨慎态度。其最担心的问题是欧盟可能对冰岛至关重要的渔业实行配额限制。但银行业的崩溃也暴露出冰岛克朗的脆弱。如果加入欧盟，冰岛就可以在几年后采用欧元。Charles Forelle相关阅读冰岛央行宣布降息100个基点 2009-03-19冰岛又一家银行关门  四大银行全军覆没 2009-03-10冰岛议会解除央行行长职务 2009-02-27原声视频：空姐女同性恋者冰岛总理 2009-02-04冰岛又要捕鱼为生？ 2008-10-10


A coalition of left-leaning parties won elections in Iceland on Saturday, decisively beating conservatives who have dominated the island's politics for two decades and are widely blamed for the meltdown in its banking system last fall.The Social Democratic Alliance will hold 20 seats in the 63-seat parliament, and its coalition partner the Left-Green Movement will hold 14, giving the two parties an outright majority, according to results as of Sunday afternoon from state broadcaster RUV.Together, the two parties took slightly more than half the popular vote. The coalition has been running Iceland on an interim basis since February, when economic turmoil forced out the conservative Independence Party prime minister and his government.Interim Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir, 66 years old, of the Social Democrats, will keep the top job.'The nation is settling the score with the neo-liberalism, with the Independence Party, who have been in power for much too long,' Ms. Sigurdardottir, a former flight attendant, union organizer and longtime politician, said at an election celebration Saturday, according to the Associated Press.The Independence Party received about 24% of the vote and 16 seats in parliament, its worst showing in at least 45 years. Since the early 1990s, the party had presided over a wave of privatizations -- including in the banking sector -- that energized Iceland's stodgy, state-dominated economy and created an economic boom.But when the banks, swollen after several years of rising lending, collapsed in the credit crunch in October, public opinion rapidly turned, and voters on Saturday punished the Independence Party at the polls. Iceland's gross domestic product is forecast to contract 10% this year, and unemployment shot up to 7.1% in the first quarter, more than triple the rate a year ago.The win by the left-wing coalition could also move Iceland closer to joining the European Union -- a major goal of the Social Democrats. The Left-Greens have resisted EU membership, but smaller, pro-EU parties also scored well Saturday.EU membership was long opposed by the Independence Party, which was wary of regulation from Brussels. A chief concern was potential quotas on the island's critical fishing industry.But the banking collapse also exposed the vulnerability of Iceland's currency, the krona. Joining the EU would put Iceland on track to adopt the euro after several years.Charles Forelle