Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09REYKJAVIK53
2009-03-09 16:47:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Reykjavik
Cable title:
ICELAND: FORMER FM GISLADOTTIR PULLS OUT OF ELECTIONS;
how-toVZCZCXRO4348 OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHRK #0053 0681647 ZNR UUUUU ZZH O 091647Z MAR 09 FM AMEMBASSY REYKJAVIK TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4022 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
UNCLAS REYKJAVIK 000053
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR EUR/NB, INR-B
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR IC
SUBJECT: ICELAND: FORMER FM GISLADOTTIR PULLS OUT OF ELECTIONS;
PRIME MINISTER TO LEAD SOCIAL DEMS?
Ref: Reykjavik 28 and previous
UNCLAS REYKJAVIK 000053
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR EUR/NB, INR-B
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR IC
SUBJECT: ICELAND: FORMER FM GISLADOTTIR PULLS OUT OF ELECTIONS;
PRIME MINISTER TO LEAD SOCIAL DEMS?
Ref: Reykjavik 28 and previous
1. (U) Social Democratic Alliance (SDA) Chair and former Foreign
Minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir announced late on Sunday, 8
March that she will not be running for reelection as party chair nor
as a member of the Althingi in the elections on April 25.
Gisladottir, who was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor last
September and has undergone two major operations as well as
radiation treatment, has been recuperating since early February when
the current SDA-Left Green government was announced (reftel).
Though at that time Gisladottir retained her seat as SDA Chair, she
did not take a ministerial post and instead put forward current
Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir as her party's senior
representative in the government. In announcing her withdrawal,
Gisladottir said her medical recovery has been slower than expected
and demands all her energy at present. In a TV interview on 7
March, she specifically referred to severe vertigo, and said the
following night that she also has difficulty concentrating.
2. (U) Gisladottir's health has been a looming question mark for
her party since it became clear in January that she was in worse
shape than earlier reported. A week ago, she barely met the
registration deadline for the SDA's March 14 Reykjavik primary, but
apparently reconsidered her decision over the past week. Her
announcement leaves the SDA floundering with just weeks before its
national congress kicks off on March 27. PM Sigurdardottir has thus
far resisted pressure to run for SDA Chair, and the only other
declared candidate is former FM and Ambassador to the U.S. Jon
Baldvin Hannibalsson. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Industry
Ossur Skarphedinsson declared again on March 9 that he has no plans
to campaign for a leadership role in the party.
3. (SBU) Political commentators speculate that Sigurdardottir will
now come under intense pressure from party insiders to run as chair
and provide the SDA with some leadership. Leading daily newspaper
Morgunbladid noted this possibility in its March 9 editorial, while
also speculating that despite Sigurdardottir's tremendous popularity
and 65 percent approval rating with the public, she will not have
Gisladottir's ability to unify the SDA around a single vision. That
said, one close observer of SDA politics told PolOff that she
believes Sigurdardottir will be left with little choice but to run
for party chair, perhaps for a shortened two-year term. The party
knows too well that the 70 year old Hannibalsson "belongs to the
last century," and that Sigurdardottir is the only reasonable
possibility given the short time left to choose a leader before
April.
VAN VOORST
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
STATE FOR EUR/NB, INR-B
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PINR IC
SUBJECT: ICELAND: FORMER FM GISLADOTTIR PULLS OUT OF ELECTIONS;
PRIME MINISTER TO LEAD SOCIAL DEMS?
Ref: Reykjavik 28 and previous
1. (U) Social Democratic Alliance (SDA) Chair and former Foreign
Minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir announced late on Sunday, 8
March that she will not be running for reelection as party chair nor
as a member of the Althingi in the elections on April 25.
Gisladottir, who was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor last
September and has undergone two major operations as well as
radiation treatment, has been recuperating since early February when
the current SDA-Left Green government was announced (reftel).
Though at that time Gisladottir retained her seat as SDA Chair, she
did not take a ministerial post and instead put forward current
Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir as her party's senior
representative in the government. In announcing her withdrawal,
Gisladottir said her medical recovery has been slower than expected
and demands all her energy at present. In a TV interview on 7
March, she specifically referred to severe vertigo, and said the
following night that she also has difficulty concentrating.
2. (U) Gisladottir's health has been a looming question mark for
her party since it became clear in January that she was in worse
shape than earlier reported. A week ago, she barely met the
registration deadline for the SDA's March 14 Reykjavik primary, but
apparently reconsidered her decision over the past week. Her
announcement leaves the SDA floundering with just weeks before its
national congress kicks off on March 27. PM Sigurdardottir has thus
far resisted pressure to run for SDA Chair, and the only other
declared candidate is former FM and Ambassador to the U.S. Jon
Baldvin Hannibalsson. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Industry
Ossur Skarphedinsson declared again on March 9 that he has no plans
to campaign for a leadership role in the party.
3. (SBU) Political commentators speculate that Sigurdardottir will
now come under intense pressure from party insiders to run as chair
and provide the SDA with some leadership. Leading daily newspaper
Morgunbladid noted this possibility in its March 9 editorial, while
also speculating that despite Sigurdardottir's tremendous popularity
and 65 percent approval rating with the public, she will not have
Gisladottir's ability to unify the SDA around a single vision. That
said, one close observer of SDA politics told PolOff that she
believes Sigurdardottir will be left with little choice but to run
for party chair, perhaps for a shortened two-year term. The party
knows too well that the 70 year old Hannibalsson "belongs to the
last century," and that Sigurdardottir is the only reasonable
possibility given the short time left to choose a leader before
April.
VAN VOORST