COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The head of the Faeroe Islands’ social democrats said Thursday his party will form a majority coalition government after a parliamentary election was held in the semi-independent Danish territory in the North Atlantic.
The head of the Equality Party, Aksel V. Johannesen, said he will team up with the left-leaning Republic Party and Progress, a liberal pro-independence party.
That coalition will hold 18 of the 33 seats in the local parliament, Lagtinget. The latter two parties want the rocky, 18-island archipelago to become independent of Denmark.
Johannesen is expected to announce which party will hold the various government posts later in the day. He will become premier and his party and the Republic Party will each get three ministries, while Progress will have two.
The new government was presented shortly before Lagtinget convened in the Faeroese capital of Torshavn.
The Faeroe Islands are a semi-autonomous Danish territory located between Scotland and Iceland with their own parliament and government. They send two lawmakers to the Danish parliament to represent the volcanic archipelago that is home to 49,000 people.
The Associated Press
