A parliamentary session scheduled for 10:30 am today to debate the budget has been cancelled, RÚV reports. The session was cancelled due to the disbanding of the government coalition last night. Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson had been scheduled to speak first in the meeting.
Speaker of Parliament Unnur Brá Konradsdóttir confirmed the cancellation in an interview with RÚV. “We need to give ourselves time to decide what the next steps will be,” she stated, referring to the disbanding of the government coalition. Unnur did not know when the parliament would next meet. A routine government meeting scheduled for today has also been postponed.
Björt Framtíð (Bright Future) decided to leave the governing coalition last night due to the release of new information in the case of Hjalti Sigurjón Hauksson, convicted of paedophilia. Benedikt Sveinsson, Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson’s father, wrote one of the letters of recommendation vouching for Hjalti’s good conduct, which the prime minister has known since July.
