The Best party has won local elections in the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik.
Jon Gnarr the leader of the Best Party , got 34.7% of the vote, ahead of the Independence Party's 33.6%.
The Best party promise to the public in Reykjavik, was free towels in Reykjavik swimming pools, and a Polar bear in the city zoo.
Also a drug free parliement by 2020 ,and transparency in the work of the city council.
The best party got 6 seats in a 15 seat coucil.
Here you can see the music video that the Best party did, to the music of Tina Turners ,You are simply the best.
The volcano , Eyjafjallajökull, has stopped its erupting for now.
Now the sky is clear , and hot and calm weather here in Iceland.
Tourists are just loving the weather and the scenery they get when they visit Iceland .
And to see and enjoy, the sun into the night.
Here are a few photos and video of the sunset in Reykjavik, all taken after 23:00 hours .
And in the summer time, it will be daylight around the clock.
Here is a link to a great Guesthouse in the West part of Iceland - LINK
This month there will be local and county elections in Iceland .
And in Reykjavik, where nearly half of the population of Iceland lives,there is now a new party .
This party is called " The Best Party ".
Its leader is mr. Jon Gnarr, a comedian,stand up comic,actor,tv star.
And on the Best party list are also ,other actors,musicians ,and people from the entertainment side of things.
Yesterday ,the Independence party , who is now controlling Reykjavik,and wants to controll it more, had a opinion poll made to see what the public would vote for .
The Best party surprised everybody ,and got the most votes.
They have made a music video , to get support for the election .
Photo: Jon Gnarr - Leader of The Best Party
The Best Party , is going to elections,with the agenda of getting work for their friends, getting a polar bear to the Reykjavik zoo, also making a toll booth between Reykjavik and Seltjarnarnes, a town connected to Reykjavik and so on.
They are making fun of the old partie system ,and gettings support for it.
Those in the other four old parties, are getting scared,and according to the poll ,some parties will not get one elected to the city council.
The Best party is saying what it will do , and the other parties , says something else, but when they get in power, they will do what the Best party is saying now.
Accorfing to the poll , the Best Party will get 6 elected , in a 15 member city council.
Photo: Einar Örn Benediktsson - Manager
After the protests last year in Iceland,due to the banking crash, 9 protesters are being charged for attacking the parliement building ,and injuring one member of the parliement staff.
And today people where showing their support for them,and treying to get the District Attourney to drop the charges agaisnt the protesters.
They are facing a sentence of up to 16 years in Jail.
No banker has been charged or poltician for their part in the banking crash.
The drummers you see first on the video , one of them is the drummer from Sugarcubes band, Where Bjork started her music.
Great weather - a icelandic heatwave( just above 10 on the celcius )
Eyjafjallajökull volcano is still in good mood.
Still erupting nicely,and ash clouds are going over towns and making a little trouble.
Here are photos taken yesterday in the Westmann Islands ,just sout of the volcano .
You can see the ash cloud come over,and then it pours ash over the town.
The old Glitnir Bank CEO´s have charged the former owners and ceos of Glitnir bank,in a USA court.in New York
The charge is for alleged financial froud.
Jon Asgeir Johannesson ,LArus Welding,Þorsteinn Jonsson,Ingibjörg Stefanía Pálmadóttir Jón Sigurðsson,Pálmi Harladsson,and Pricewaterhouse Coopers are all charged in this case.
In the charge,they are charged for - under the leadership of Jon Asgeir,to take money from Glitnir to supprot their own companys.
How Jon Asgeir and his colleges took over Glitnir Bank,got rid off experienced staff,and used their position in the bank to misuse the banks money.
Nobody knows where Jon Asgeir is now, but he says he can prove that they where just refinancing loans and that the charge is " just politics " Jon Asgeir also says that the charge is motivated by his political opponents including David Oddsson former CEO of the Central bank and now Editor of morgunbladid ,newspaper.
Photos:
top - Jón Ásgeir Jóhannesson
middle- Lárus Welding
bottom - Davíð Oddsson
Sigurdur Einarsson ,former CEO of Kaupthing bank,is now wanted by Interpol.
Icelands special prosecutor asked today that a internationa
arrest warrant was issued on Sigurd Einarsson. Two other CEO of Kaupthing bank are now in prison in Iceland , due to the investigation on the banking crash,and their part in it.
Photo: Sigurdur Einarsson
The volcano in Iceland,Eyjafjallajökull,is still on.Touists are loving it, the scenery and sound.
Here are a few photos i took last april ,when i went to see the small volcano .
And on the video you can see tourists near the volcano.
But this is not the Big volcano that is on now.
Great weather today for seeing a volcano in action.
These photos are from vodafone.is/eldgos a live web camera of the volcano ,wich is lovingly known as ,Eyjafjallajökull.
The first photo is from this morning,and the second one is from yesterday ,where you can see tourists enjoying the scenery.
There is also another set of live streaming video here on http://eldgos.mila.is/ You can click on the photos to see them bigger.
And here is a link to a great guesthouse in the west part of Iceland guesthouse
One former CEO of Kaupthing bank was arrested today,and another one later in the day.
The one who was arrested this morning was mr.Hreiðar Már Sigurðsson, but the one who was arrested later has not been named.
They are arrested because of the investigation by the special prosecutor about the banking crash in 2008.
On may the 29th 2010 ,there will be city and county elections in Iceland.
And now there is a new party ,called , The Best Party.
In it are people in the entertainmnet buisness.
Mr. Jon Gnarr is its leader,a stand up comic and actor.
The poilicy of the party ,is a joke in many ways.
The party chairman ,Jon Gnarr ,needs a more sequre job that pays well.
He wants to have a Polar Bear in the city zoo,and he wants to make Reykjavik a more fun city.
Now other politicians in the traditional parties are getting scared.
In polls , the Best Party is getting more then 20 % of the vote.
The other parties ,all have accepting dubious money to the election support.
Many use the word " accepting bribes " when talking about the money they receive.
Now politicians and member of the press are writing about the Best party ,and thinking this joke has gone far enough.
They are afraid of the votes that the Best party could get.
There are 15 in Reykjavik city council ,and according to the polls ,the Best Party could get 4 seats.
And with four othere parties ,that is a lot of seats.
About ten thousand people attended the may first parade in Reykjavik yesterday.
The big union leaders did not attend,only minor union leaders and vice chairmans of the unions.
Now there is a discussion about the Unions Pensiun funds, and how they are run.
One of the big Pensiun fund ,Gildi, put 3.5 billion kronas into the Glitnir Bank,few days before the banking crash.
This money is lost from the pensiun fund,and now they are cutting pension to the ealderly and disabled.
Union members have no control who is controlling the pension funds, and the CEO´s of the Pensiun funds,can invest in any way the see fit.
No investigation is going on the Pensiun and union funds.
Even though they have lost lots of money ,and written of big loans.
Many of those that control the pensiun funds,are also working for big companys.
And at Pensiun funds meeting ,the member of the union can attend, but he has no voting rights.
Here is a video i took yesterday ,and you can hear people booing at the speachmakers
9 protesters where in court yesterday.
They are charged with going into the Parliement building,and make noise there.
Therefore troubling the parliement at work.
More than 9 where protesting at the parliement building last year,but they decided just to charge 9 of the protesters.
And yesterday in court lot of supporters came to witness the procedings.
Suddenly the Police came ,and ordered two of the court guests,who where standing,becuase all seats had been taken ,out of the court room.
They objected,and then the police arrested the two,and after they where taken away to Police HQ, police stayed in the court room.
The defender objected,and wanted the Police force out of the court room.
But they did not go.
So many think that the court was under Police rule yesterday.
Looks like Iceland is turning into a Police State.
Here is a link to a video taken yesterday at the Court video
Still corruption is going strong in Iceland.
Members of parliement accepting money into there accounts,and saying it is support money to the elections process.
In a few weeks there will be local city and county elections in ICeland.
And the fight for Reykjavik is on.
Usually the fight for Reykjavik has between right or left wing politics.
There is the same corruption problem in county politics as there is at the State level.
But now there is a twist to the Reykjavik elections.
There is now a party in the election called the Best Party.
And in it stand up comics,actors,and musicians.
The leader of Best Party ,is Jon Gnarr,a stand up comic and actor.
And he says that ,they are running for Reykjavik,to get good jobs.
That they are going to be corrupt, and get a good living in the Reykjavik city council.
Well,all the other parties say that they are going to do good things for the public,but when elected,they steal and are corrupt for four years.
But the Best Party ,is just honest ,and according to polls in Iceland, the Best party will get 4 seats of 15 in Reykjavik city council.
Jon Gnarr ,Best Party leader, says that he will talk to everybody,the old ,the disabled,women and even foreigners.
Traveling in Iceland
Now is a good time to visit Iceland.
The volcano is now a tourist attraction,and it is cheap to stay and enjoy Iceland .
Here is a link to a great guesthouse in the countryside,just a hour away from Reykjavik.
It is at Reykholt,a great history site in Iceland. Guesthouse link
