A new government is taking over with a majority in parliament today. Bjarni Benediktsson is scheduled to take over government as prime minister this afternoon at 13:30 at the presidential residency Bessastadir. The independent party, Reform party and Bright future have formed a tight majority and announced a governing covenant. The Independence party will hold six ministries, three are to be held by the Reform party and two by Bright Future. Four women and seven men hold a seat in the new government and of the eleven ministers, four have been in government before and seven are holding their first ministry.
The results of the early 2016 parliamentary elections were in on 31 October and it was clear that it was not going to be an easy task to form a majority. The president handed out three mandates to three party leaders, all of whom failed to form a majority after some days of deliberations. Informal talks too place for a few weeks and the new government is the result. The 2016 election was held early, it would normally have been held in spring but after vigorous protests in the wake of the panama papers where demands of an early election was clear, prime minister Sigurdur David Gudmundsson resigned his ministry and early elections in fall were promised and took place in October.