Leftists win resounding victory in Iceland vote

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REYKJAVIK, April 26 (AFP): Iceland's interim leftist government won a resounding victory in this weekend's general election as voters punished the conservatives they blame for the country's economic meltdown seven months ago.
The conservative Independence Party, in power for 18 years until it resigned in January amid massive protests over the financial crisis that brought Iceland to the brink of bankruptcy, posted its worst-ever election score.
"We lost this time but we will win again later," party leader Bjarni Benediktsson said, conceding defeat having garnered just 23.6 per cent of votes, far below the conservatives' previous all-time low of 27 per cent in 1987.
Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir of the pro-EU Social Democratic Party will now have to try to reach an agreement with its eurosceptic coalition partner, the Left Green Movement, on European Union membership.
The Social Democrats were credited with 30.3 per cent of votes and the Left Greens with 21.7 per cent, according to official estimates with 90 per cent of ballots counted.