Greenland parties in coalition talks, mining in focus

TGX Energy & Resources

03/12/2014 17:55

By Sabina Zawadzki 
    COPENHAGEN, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Greenland's two main parties, 
who disagree on mining regulations that could impact foreign 
investment, are in coalition talks following an election last 
week, one of them said on Wednesday. 
    Greenland's 56,000 people voted on Friday in a snap election 
 called after an expenses scandal involving the former prime 
minister Aleqa Hammond.  ID:nL2N0RW2JN   ID:nL2N0RV18Q  
    Results showed Siumut, which has formed every single 
government in Greenland but one since 1979, won 34.3 percent of 
the vote. Opposition party Inuit Ataqatigiit (IA) won 33.2 
percent, Greenland's election website showed. 
    The closeness of the result means both parties have the same 
number of seats in parliament -- 11 each out of 31 -- but with 
more votes, Siumut, led by Kim Kielsen, has the right to start 
coalition talks. 
    Polls had shown for weeks before the vote that IA leader 
Sara Olsvig had a good chance of winning, representing a clean 
break following accusations that Hammond used state money to pay 
for hotels and flights for her family. 
    But analysts said Kielsen, who took over Siumut after the 
October scandal, ran a strong campaign emphasising his 
trustworthiness as an ex-policeman and focusing on specific 
issues such as improving the fishing industry. 
    "I am expecting that talks will resume tomorrow," IA's 
Olsvig said when asked about talks between her and the Siumut 
party.  
    "I can't say anything in detail, except that we are still 
talking and we are meeting again," she told Reuters by 
telephone. 
    Local media had reported that the two parties met earlier 
this week after a weekend of rest following Friday's election. 
    The most obvious sticking point between the two parties is 
their stance on uranium mining, long banned before a Siumut-led 
government lifted it last year. This paved the way for rare 
earth mining projects because those are often associated with 
the production of uranium as a byproduct.  ID:nL2N0TH13E  
    Olsvig's party had rejected the lifting of the ban and 
promised to reimpose it, but has been softer on the issue since. 
    "A Siumut-IA coalition would at this point be the best 
governmental combination possible in the eyes of the foreign 
investor community because it would convey a sense of 
stability," said Mikaa Mered, chief editor of the POLARISK 
Greenland Report. 
    However, a referendum on uranium mining has been on the 
cards since the ban was lifted by a narrow parliamentary vote 
last year. 
    Should a referendum occur, "the two party leaders may then 
fight each other so hard that it would harm the country's 
stability once more," Mered said. 
    See also  ID:nL2N0TJ0DN   ID:nL6N0TJ02C   ID:nL2N0TG0G9  
     
 
 (Reporting by Sabina Zawadzki; Editing by Angus MacSwan) 
 ((sabina.zawadzki@thomsonreuters.com; +45 33 96 96 50, +45 20 
54 86 88;))