Thank you . At least some people get it . Faith in some few human beings restored . <| sep |> This literally made my heart sink , too . Old people are just too darn cute <| sep |> So how do these coalitions work ? Do they all have to support the same things they get proposed ? When a coalition is formed , it is based on a written coalition pact which outlines the things they want to achieve over their term in office . This means compromises as parties may not be able to reconcile their platforms . It is a common complaint among Icelandic voters that we never really know what we end up with because the promises made before elections may not end up in platform of the new cabinet after elections . Ministers in the cabinet are expected to uphold this coalition pact but in the end they also have more freedom to do whatever than in many other parliamentary systems . The Swedish cabinet for example is based on collective responsibility were executive decisions are made by the cabinet as a whole . Ministers might disagree internally but then they vote and go with the majority decision . In most ways I think that ' s a healthier approach than the one we have in Iceland where ministers act like little kings . During the last term there were for instance issues like the the Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture deciding to move the office of the Directorate of Fisheries up north to Akureyri against the wishes of its staff and that whole thing about the suggested Nature Pass by the the Minister of Industry and Commerce . It is not ideal that the rest of the ministers can act like these proposals are none of their business . They should support it collectively or find a different job that suits them better . What happens if no agreement is made in forming one ? That is when the time comes for the President of Iceland to shine in is his only real constitutional role . He has the responsibility of guaranteeing that there is a working cabinet in some form . When there has been an constitutional crisis for a while , he might threaten the party leaders with the option that he himself forms a cabinet of people who are not members of parliament and independent of the political parties . There is no precedence for this in recent decades and it is assumed that such a cabinet would only rule for a short time until new elections are called . The more likely option in my view is that the party leaders don ' t let it come to this and agree to form some sort of a broad coalition that agrees to call new elecctions and do just the bare minimum required until then . Does the opposition have to argue everything ? The opposition does not need to oppose everything in parliament . Most bills that are passed there are uncontroversial and pass without any resistance . They pick their battles .