Icelanders defied strong winds and rain on Saturday to vote in a parliamentary election with polls showing the opposition led by the anti-establishment Pirate Party could topple the ruling center-right coalition.
Icelanders’ faith in their political and financial establishment was shaken after the 2008 financial crisis and further eroded this year when several senior government figures were named in the Panama Papers on offshore tax havens.
The biggest protests in Icelandic history ultimately led to the resignation of Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson of the Progressive Party and the early election this weekend.
“I voted the Pirates this time because I want change. I’m tired of all this mess,” Georg Jonasson, 49 and unemployed, told Reuters after casting his ballot at the Laugalaekjar school.
Founded by Internet activists and led by poet Birgitta Jonsdottir, the Pirates promise to clean up corruption, look into granting asylum to ex-U. S. spy contractor Edward Snowden and involve people more directly in lawmaking.
“Change is beautiful, there is nothing to worry about… We can sense that the times are a-changing,” said Jonsdottir after casting her vote, quoting American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan’s anthem of civil rights and Vietnam War protests.
“If it’s naive to listen to people, then so be it. We’d rather be naive than corrupt, and the Icelandic people are very sick of the nepotism and corruption,” she said.
Polls were due to close at 2200 GMT, with first results expected soon afterward, though bad weather could delay matters.
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