Roundup: Icelanders vote in snap election prompted by scandal

Icelanders cast ballots in the country's parliamentary election on Saturday, months after a global tax evasion scandal forced the prime minister to resign and prompted the snap vote.

About 246,500 voters are eligible to vote in the election. Voting began at 9 a.m. (0900 GMT) and is due to close at 10 p.m. (2200 GMT).

Three major polls published on the eve of the election showed the competition would be tough and it would be difficult for the current centre-right ruling coalition to get enough votes to remain in power.

The conservative Independence Party, one of the two current ruling parties, was leading with 22.5 to 27 percent of the vote in the polls.

The anti-establishment Pirate Party, which had taken the lead in many other polls over the months, finished second with 17.9 to 21.2 percent.

Another opposition group, the Left-Green Movement, trailed with between 16.2 and 16.8 percent, while the centrist Progressive Party, the other ruling party, was the fourth with just 9.3 to 11.4 percent.

The newly-formed Vidreisn (Revival), the Bright Future and the Social Democratic Alliance also crossed the 5 percent electoral threshold needed to gain seats in the parliament.

The election was prompted by the resignation of Iceland's then prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson on April 5 after the so-called Panama Papers suggested Gunnlaugsson and other two cabinet members had ties with offshore companies.

Iceland's ruling center-right coalition on April 6 decided to appoint Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson as new prime minister and hold early general election in the autumn.

The center-right camp Independence Party and the Progressive Party won the last parliamentary election in April 2013. But for the scandal, a general election would not come until April 2017. Endit