Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson named as Iceland Prime Minister

Iceland ruling coalition on 6 April 2016 named Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson as the Prime Minister of the country. The coalition also decided to hold elections in the autumn.
•    Earlier, the polls were scheduled to take place in the spring of 2017.
•    He will succeed Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson who resigned on 5 April 2016 after his name was the leaked in the Panama Papers. The leaked documents from a Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, showed Gunnlaugsson owned an offshore firm with his wife that held millions of dollars in debt from failed celandic banks.
•    Johannsson, 53, is Agriculture and Fisheries Minister and deputy leader of the Progressive Party (PP).
•    Johannsson, who had served also as agriculture minister in the government, told reporters the government would further pursue its big projects of the last three years, the largest being the abolition of capital controls.
•    The opposition has been trying to force a new election with a vote of no confidence in the government, which could lead to a radical political shift.
•    A few thousand demonstrators, though fewer than on Monday, gathered for another evening of protests in front of the parliament building on Wednesday.