Iceland remains without a government following last month's snap election as coalition talks between four parties broke down.

Left-Green leader Katrin Jakobsdottir had been given the mandate to try and form a coalition government by President Gudhi Johannesson last week.

Her party came second in 28 October's general election.

The 41-year-old had been in talks with three other parties and said that they had been "progressing well", but according to national broadcaster RUV they have failed to reach an agreement.

Ms Jakobsdottir, a former journalist, described the breakdown as "a huge disappointment".


Bjarni Benediktsson's Independence party came in first in the election but fell short of a majority.

Image: Iceland's Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson

He had called the election in September, after less than a year in office, because a key ally dropped out of the government after it emerged that Mr Benediktsson's father had written a letter of recommendation for a convicted paedophile.

Ms Jakobsdottir had tried to form a governing coalition with the Social Democrats, Progressive party and the Pirate party.

Had talks been successful, it would have become only the country's second left-led government since becoming independent from Denmark in 1944.

Mother-of-three Ms Jakobsdottir had found some success on the campaign trail by focusing on inequality and promising that the Nordic island's growing economic prosperity would see greater investment in health and education.

Iceland has bounced back from the 2008 financial crisis thanks to a recent tourism boom, but there has been an increasing level of distrust in the elite after the Panama Papers listed more than 600 nationals with offshore tax havens, including Mr Benediktsson.

In an exclusive interview in September, Mr Benediktsson told Sky News that his country's actions had helped to "heal" the effects of the recession, with some Icelandic bankers ending up in prison.