Johanna Sigurdardottir,
world's first openly gay leader, to take power in Iceland
January 29, 2009
The world's first openly gay leader is poised to take power in Iceland
with the appointment of a lesbian former flight attendant as Prime
Minister following the mass-resignation of the country's government.
Johanna Sigurdardottir, 66, is to become interim leader until new
elections are held in May following the fall of the administration of
Geir Haarde amid huge public protests about the country's economic
crisis.
The country's social affairs minister, Ms Sigurdardottir has been
installed as head of an interim centre-left coalition featuring her
Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green movement.
"Now we need a strong government that works with the people," she told
reporters, adding that her new administration was likely to be sworn in
on Saturday.
Doubts remain, however, as to whether Ms Sigurdardottir can retain
power after May's elections as her Alliance party trails the Left-Green
movement in the polls.
However, her appointment marks a historic milestone for the gay and
lesbian community worldwide. She lives with a journalist, Jonina
Leosdottir, with whom she was joined in a 2002 civil partnership, and
has two sons from a previous marriage.
It is also a significant personal triumph for a politician who managed
to retain, and even increase, her popularity while much of Iceland's
political class were pilloried over the financial crisis engulfing the
country.
While Mr Haarde endured angry protests for months and had his limousine
pelted with eggs, polling companies said Ms Sigurdardottir's approval
rating sat at 73 per cent in November, and she was the only minister to
see her popularity improve on the previous year’s score.
The new leader is known for allocating generous amounts of public
funding to help the disabled, the elderly and organisations tackling
domestic violence, and she is seen by many as a unifying character
capable of solving tensions in Iceland.
Last week, in the run up to Mr Haarde's resignation, police in
Reykjavik used tear gas for the first time in half a century to
disperse gathering crowds. At their height, the protests involved
32,000 people – more than 10 per cent of Iceland’s
population
"It’s a question of trust, people believe that she actually
cares
about people," Olafur Hardarson, a political scientist at the
University of Iceland, said.
However, conservative critics say Ms Sigurdardottir’s lack of
business experience and belief in big government will prevent her from
fixing the economy. "Johanna is a very good woman - but she likes
public spending, she is a tax raiser," Mr Haarde said.
After acting as a union organiser when she worked as a flight attendant
for Loftleidir Airlines, now Icelandair, in the 1960s and 1970s, Ms
Sigurdardottir was elected to Iceland’s parliament in 1978.
She
served as social affairs minister from 1987-1994 and again from 2007.
Undoubtedly, her main task will be stewarding the country's crisis-hit
economy, which plunged into crisis after the almost overnight
bankruptcy of Iceland's three main banks
Since then, Iceland has negotiated about £7bn ($10bn) in
bailout
loans from the International Monetary Fund and individual countries.
The loans are currently being held as foreign currency reserves. Banks
that were nationalised last year are once again open and trading, but
Iceland still owes millions of pounds to foreign depositors.
Mr Haarde's administration became the highest-profile casualty of the
crisis when it resigned en masse on Monday. He will not lead his
centre-right Independence Party into new elections because he needs
treatment for throat cancer."
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5610520.ece