Iceland’s main centre-right party is leading in a snap election, but its ruling coalition appears to be falling apart, according to preliminary results released on Sunday.<br /><br />The Independence Party, which has dominated Iceland’s politics for decades, is losing its grip as left-leaning parties rise. It stood to lose 4 percentage points compared to an election last year, to land 25 percent of the vote.<br /><br />Incumbent Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson played down his party’s drop in the polls, saying “Elections are about getting votes. And we got the most.”<br /><br />The Left-Greens came in second with about 17 percent. Their leader Katrin Jakobsdottir now looks set to secure a narrow majority in parliament by teaming up with other left-leaning parties, particularly the Social Democrats which came in third with 12 percent – almost doubling its share of the vote from a year ago.<br /><br />If that fails, Jakobsdottir has not ruled out working with the newly formed Centre Party, led by former Prime Minister David Gunnlaugsson, which collected around 11 percent of the vote.<br /><br />Gunnlaugsson was forced out of office last year when his name appeared in the Panama Papers tax evasion scandal.<br /><br />The parliament is likely to be split between eight parties and it could take months to form a coalition government.<br />
