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MPs vote down same-sex parental rights bill
There will be no changes in the law on parental leave (Barsilslógin) for now.
Despite support from a coalition member, Parliament yesterday voted down a bill and an amendment seeking to accommodate same-sex couples in the Barsilslógin.
It caused a stir in the government when Johan Dahl, representing coalition party Sambandsflokkurin, announced that he was going to vote in favour of the opposition’s proposal.
>> SEE ALSO Same-sex dispute heating up again
Dahl last month issued the following statement:
“As a democratically elected representative of the Faroese people, who elected to me to make laws that are intended to provide equal rights to all citizens, I cannot accept that we as a coalition government refuse to grant minority groups such as same-sex couples and their children the same legal rights to parental leave as the rest of the country’s citizens.”
This upset a number of coalition members, who said that Dahl was in direct breach of an internal coalition agreement not to support proposals from the opposition.
>> SEE ALSO Government torn on same-sex couples issue
In yesterday’s vote, 16 MPs voted in favour of the bill and the amendment and 16 voted against. A 17-vote majority vote is required for a bill to be passed.
Prime Minister Bárður á Steig Nielsen, who is the party leader of Sambandsflokkurin, says that the breach of the coalition agreement will have no further consequences for Dahl.
"But this has been a big blow to the coalition," the Prime Minister said yesterday.
Read the Faroese version of this article here
Translated by prosa.fo