Iceland appears headed for a snap election after governing coalition collapses

LONDON -- LONDON (AP) — Iceland appears headed for a snap election after Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson pulled the plug on the Nordic nation’s fragile governing coalition.

The prime minister asked President Halla Tómasdóttir on Monday to formally dissolve Iceland’s parliament, the Althingi, for an election on Nov. 30, national broadcaster RUV reported. The president said she would meet other party leaders before making an announcement later this week.

Benediktsson’s center-right Independence Party has governed since April with the centrist Progressive Party and the Left Green Movement. He said the coalition partners disagreed over issues including immigration, energy policy and the economy.

Iceland is a wind-lashed island near the Arctic Circle with a population of about 385,000. The country suffered through years of economic upheaval after its debt-swollen banks collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis, but has become a major draw for tourists eager to see its glaciers and waterfalls, the Northern Lights and its frequently active volcanoes.

Repeated eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula in the country’s southwest have displaced several thousand people and strained public finances.