Bjarni Benediktsson, chairman of the Independence Party got a unanimous vote of confidence at a party convention on Saturday. The party has been shaken by the report of the investigative committee on the Icelandic crash. Vice Chairman Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir and Member of Parliament Illugi Gunnarsson both decided to take a leave of absence until a committee formed by members of Althingi had finished its report.
Bjarni Benediktsson. Photo: Páll Stefánsson/Iceland Review
Benediktsson said in his report that the party must learn from the past and be willing to discuss the implications of the report. He said that he had no intension of resigning from his post. The report indicated that he had gone on a golfing trip with a bank in 2007. At the time he was the chairman of petrol distribution company N1. Tabloid DV has been trying to implicate Benediktsson in a complex deal with Karl Wernesson, but there is no indication that he did not take part in anything illegal, nor that Benediktsson knew of Wernerson’s deal.
Today, Monday the 19th the Independence Party Central Committee will gather together to deicide how to select a new Vice Chairman in place of Thorgerdur Katrín Gunnarsdóttir who resigned that post on Saturday.
