Country is facing second snap election in a year after party in ruling coalition quits over alleged cover-up involving PM’s father 
 
 Iceland will face its second snap election in a year after one of the three parties in its ruling coalition said it was quitting because of a “serious breach of trust” over the alleged cover-up of a scandal involving the prime minister’s father. 
 
 The Bright Future party said on its Facebook page that it had “decided to terminate cooperation with the government”, effectively bringing down Bjarni Benediktsson’s administration barely nine months after it was formed. 
 
 The prime minister told reporters: “We have lost the majority and I don’t see anything that indicates we can regain that … I am calling an election.” He added that he would prefer the vote to take place in November. 
 
 The walkout follows reports that Benediktsson’s Independence party tried to conceal a letter written by his father, Benedikt Sveinsson, to help a friend convicted of child sexual offences have his criminal record cleared. 
 
 The justice minister, Sigridur Andersen, of the Independence party, told Benediktsson of the letter in July but the government did not publicly disclose its existence until forced to do so by a parliamentary committee this week. 
 
 Sveinsson’s letter recommended that his friend Hjalti Sigurjón Hauksson, sentenced to five years in prison in 2004 for repeatedly raping his stepdaughter for 12 years since the age of five, should have his “honour restored”. 
 
 The widely criticised Icelandic legal procedure restores the “civil standing” of people who have served sentences for serious offences – allowing them, for example, to apply for certain jobs – without erasing their criminal records. One requirement for the status is a letter of recommendation from a close friend. 
 
 The Reform party, the third member of the coalition formed after elections last year, triggered by the collapse of the previous government following the Panama Papers offshore tax revelations, also said it backed a fresh vote. 
 
 “In light of the situation, the Reform party believes the right thing to do is to call an election immediately,” it said in a statement. 
 
 Bright Future’s chair, Guðlaug Kristjánsdóttir, called the latest scandal “the last straw”. 
 
 Sveinsson confirmed on Friday that he had signed a letter supporting his friend’s application and said he had not discussed it with anyone. “I did not think of it as something that would justify Hjalti’s position,” he said. “I never considered ‘restored honour’ as anything but a legal procedure making it possible for convicted criminals to regain some civil rights.” 
 
 Sveinsson added: “I would like to apologise to all those who have been hurt because of the matter.” 

 COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Iceland's president on Saturday accepted the resignation of the volcanic island's prime minister, who says a new election mostly likely will be held on Nov. 4. 
 
 Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson lost his nine-month-old, center-right coalition after one party quit over an attempt by the prime minister's father to help clear the name of a convicted pedophile. 
 
 President Gudni Th. Johannesson met Saturday with Benediktsson and was meeting with other party leaders later in the day. 
 
 A small centrist party, Bright Future, quit the ruling coalition Friday after it emerged that Benediktsson's father had written a letter urging a pardon for Hjalti Sigurjon Hauksson, who was convicted in 2004 of raping his stepdaughter almost every day for 12 years. 
 
 Under Iceland's judicial system, a person who has served a sentence for a serious crime can apply to authorities to "restore their honor" and seek employment again, meaning their criminal record is erased. For that, a letter of recommendation by a close friend or an associate is needed. 
 
 Benediktsson took office in January, uniting his Independence Party, the Reform Party and the centrists. 
 
 Together they held the slimmest of majorities — 32 of the 63 seats in parliament following the Oct. 29 election, which was called after the former prime minister resigned amid protests over his offshore holdings that were revealed in the Panama Papers leak. 
 
 When it emerged that some government members had kept information from the public about the letter seeking to clear Hauksson's record, Bright Future said it was quitting. 
 
 Benediktsson said Friday that some Icelandic laws were "completely out of sync with modern values," according to the nation's largest newspaper Morgunbladid. He was quoted as saying he was "in shock" when he heard about the letter. 
 
 Benediktsson, a former finance minister, was also named in the Panama Papers as having held a stake in a Seychelles-based investment company. 
 
 Iceland is a wind-lashed island near the Arctic Circle with a population of 320,000. The country suffered through years of economic upheaval after its debt-swollen banks collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis but now is experiencing a surge in tourism by those eager to see its pristine glaciers, fjords and waterfalls and the Northern Lights.
– The prime minister of Iceland is out after it was alleged he tried to hide the fact that his father was seeking to clear the name of a convicted pedophile, Deutsche Welle reports. According to the AP, Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson's government ended when his resignation was accepted by the country's president on Saturday—just nine months after it was formed following the resignation of the previous prime minister. A man named Hjalti Sigurjon Hauksson was sentenced to five years in prison in 2004 for repeatedly raping his stepdaughter starting when she was 5 and continuing for 12 years, the Guardian reports. An Icelandic law allows convicted criminals to "restore their honor" and regain some rights. One requirement of the law is a supportive letter from a close friend. Benedikt Sveinsson, father of Benediktsson, was that close friend for Hauksson. Benediktsson allegedly learned of his father's letter in July—the prime minister says he was "in shock"—but the government didn't disclose it until this week when forced by a parliamentary committee. The Bright Future Party called the whole situation a "serious breach of trust" and pulled out of a coalition with Benediktsson's Independence Party and the Reform Party. Benediktsson had been relying on that center-right coalition to hold a one-seat majority in the government. "We have lost the majority, and I don't see anything that indicates we can regain that. I am calling an election," Benediktsson says. A snap election—Iceland's second in a year—will likely be held Nov. 4 to elect a new government. As his son's government crumbled, Sveinsson said he "would like to apologize to all those who have been hurt because of the matter.”