Icelandic government survives no-confidence vote as protesters continue call for government to resign

Iceland’s government survived a no confidence vote on Friday.

It was put forward by the opposition after revelations from the leaked “Panama Papers” which have already forced the prime minister to step down.

The government has a majority and the vote was rejected 38 to 25. Another motion calling for the dissolution of parliament was also defeated.

Protesters, who have been outside the Parliament building in Reykjavik all week, say they will continue to call for the government to resign and for fresh elections to be held.

“There are still two ministers in the Icelandic government that are implicated or whose names are in the Panama Papers. They are not supposed to be in a government, they are not supposed to be handling public money,” said one protester.

Another added: “This is the fifth day I come here and what really mostly makes me angry is how arrogant the Icelandic politicians are, and how they talk down to the people of the Icelandic nation.”

Prime Minister Gunnlaugsson was forced to resign after it was revealed that he and his wife owned an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands.

Links to offshore accounts are particularly sensitive in Iceland, where bankers used tax havens to hide their dealings before the banking crash of 2008.