Chairman of the conservative party finds it natural to form a government with a bourgeois party after Faroese elections.
The conservative party Fólkaflokkurin remains the winner of Thursday’s election to the Faroese parliament, the Lagtinget.
With 26.7 percent of the vote and nine mandates elected, the party becomes the largest.
Thus, it also seems that the 29-year-old chairman, Beinir Johannesen, will lead the negotiations for a new government.
If he becomes the new captain, he will be the youngest captain the Faroe Islands have ever had.
Brand cases
During the election campaign, Fólkaflokkurin has, among other things, had notable issues such as creating a strong business community and solving the problems with a housing market characterized by high prices.
Beinir Johannesen finds it natural that his party is part of a coalition with, among others, the bourgeois party Sambandsflokkurin, which won 21.5 percent of the vote and retained its seven mandates.
– We two parties have certain things we can agree on, among other things when it comes to business policy and social policy, says Beinir Johannesen and adds:
– But we will examine all possibilities and try to get as much of our policy through as possible.
Previously in opposition
The leader of Sambandsflokkurin, Bárður á Steig Nielsen, also sees a coalition between the two parties as a possible solution.
Together, Fólkaflokkurin and Sambandsflokkurin, which have been in opposition together since the 2022 election, have 16 mandates.
In order to form a government, however, a majority of at least 17 out of the Lagting’s 33 seats is required.
Therefore, the two parties cannot form a government alone.
The social democratic party Javnaðarflokkurin, which until now has been at the head of the Faroese government, went back with three mandates and received 18.9 percent of the vote.
The party’s chairman and outgoing layman, Aksel V. Johannesen, will not yet decide whether he will be part of a government with Fólkaflokkurin and Sambandsflokkurin.
– Now I just have to talk to the parties and also to my new parliamentary group, he says shortly after the election results.
Another possibility
A coalition with the left-wing Tjóðveldi is also a possibility.
The party, like both Fólkaflokkurin and Javnaðarflokkurin, wants the Faroe Islands to become an independent state in its own right.
However, Sambandsflokkurin is against it.
– Immediately Tjóðveldi and Sambandsflokkurin are each other’s opposites, so entering into a coalition in which Tjóðveldi also participates is not exactly what lies ahead, says Bárður á Steig Nielsen from Sambandsflokkurin.
A new government could also consist of one of the three smaller parties – the social liberal Framsókn, the Christian party Miðflokkurin and the self-governing party Sjálvstýri.
Seven parties have won a seat in the Lagting after the election, where 89.5 percent of the more than 39,000 Faroese eligible to vote cast a vote.
/ritzau/
