Iceland has voted
The year 2024 was a politically eventful year in Iceland, with the resignation of the long-time prime minister, the new election of the president, the early end of the previous government coalition and the subsequent new elections.
The previous government coalition around left-green Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir had governed Iceland since November 2017 after early elections.
The government elected in 2016 fell apart after less than a year because of an affair involving the father of then Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson. There were early elections in autumn 2017. In this election, the Left-Greens became the second strongest force with just under 17%. Since the strongest force, the Independence Party, with a good 25%, could not find a coalition partner who wanted to work with it under the leadership of the Independence Party, Katrín Jakobsdóttir was commissioned by the then Icelandic President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson to form a government. For 7 years she led a coalition of the Left-Green Party, the Independence Party and the Progress Party (almost 11%).
In the next election in September 2021, the Left-Greens only got just under 13% and became the third strongest force, behind the Independence Party with just under 25% and the Progress Party with a good 17%. However, the three parties agreed that Katrín should continue to lead the coalition as prime minister.
In order to run as a candidate in the 2024 presidential election, Katrín Jakobsdóttir resigned from all her positions in April 2024. However, in the election on June 1, Katrín was defeated as runner-up by Halla Tómasdóttir.
 |
| Katrín Jakobsottir and Guðni Jóhannesson in front of Parliament (June 17, 2022) |
The early elections to the Icelandic parliament Alþingi took place on November 30, 2024.
 |
| Alþingishús |
The polling stations closed at 9 p.m. on Saturday evening, and the preliminary official final result was available on Sunday afternoon.
 |
| Source: mbl.is |
In the future, only six parties will be represented in the parliament in Reykjavík instead of the current eight. In addition to the previous ruling party, the Left-Green Party, the Pirate Party also failed to pass the 5% hurdle.
A continuation of the previous government coalition, which has been led by the Left-Green Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir since 2017 and by her successor Bjarni Benediktsson since April 2024, is ruled out.
The three previous government parties together lost almost 25% in the early elections.
"Valkyrjurnar eru komnar til að sjá og sigra" -
"The Valkyries have come to see and to conquer"
Since Sunday, President Halla Tómasdóttir has welcomed the party leaders of the parties elected to parliament to her official residence, Bessastaðir, for talks. As it became known today, the three party leaders Kristrún Frostadóttir from the Social Democrats, Þorgerður Gunnardóttir from the Reform Party and Inga Sæland from the People's Party want to start coalition talks from tomorrow (December 4th).
Kristrún and Þorgerður told journalists this afternoon after a meeting in Alþingi that they were aware of the problems at hand, but they believed they had a good basis from which to put together a viable, effective government. Inga was also very optimistic that the meeting went well. "The Valkyries have come to see and win," Inga explained.
 |
| Bessastaðir |
Which parties have now been elected to parliament?
There are currently eight political parties that have been important at the national level in recent years. Incidentally, the parties in Iceland all have a "list letter" (listabókstafur), i.e. a letter that appears on the ballot paper (next to the name of the party) as a symbol of this political movement in the election. These letters are also indicated in the surveys and election results.
Samfylkingin, the Icelandic Social Democrats, became the strongest party in the November 2024 election with just under 21%.
The party emerged in 2000 from the merger of four left-wing parties, including the Women's List, to act as a counterweight to the Independence Party.
The party positions itself to the left of center and advocates social democratic values, social responsibility and women's rights.
In the 2016 elections, the Social Democrats only got just under 6% of the vote, in 2017 they got around 12% again and fell back to just under 10% in 2021.
The party leader since 2022 has been Kristrún Frostadóttir. The economist, born in 1988, worked as an analyst and chief economist at various banks at home and abroad, but resigned and has been a member of parliament for the Social Democrats in the Reykjavík-South constituency since 2021. She is married and has two children (born 2019 and 2023).
With 19.4%, the Independence Party became the second strongest party in the 2024 parliamentary election.
The party represents economically liberal goals and right-wing conservative policies.
From 1944 to 2009, the Independence Party was the strongest party in Alþingi in elections, even though it was not always involved in government and never had an absolute majority. In the 2013, 2016, 2017 and 2021 elections, the Independence Party was again the strongest party with 25 to 30% of the vote.
Bjarni Benediktsson (born 1970) has been the party leader since 2009. The qualified lawyer comes from an influential family, both politically and economically. Bjarni is also sometimes called "Teflon-Bjarni" because of the many political scandals he has sat out without losing his position as one of Iceland's most powerful politicians. Most recently, during his time as finance minister, there were allegations that when the state's shareholding in Íslandsbanki was sold, people who were favored, including Bjarni's father Benedikt Sveinsson, were able to purchase shares in the bank at a price below market value. Bjarni assumed political responsibility and resigned as finance minister - only to take over as foreign minister a few days later. In surveys, Bjarni Benediktsson has repeatedly been named as Iceland's most unpopular politician.
In the November 2024 election, independence received only the second-most votes with 19.4% - the worst result in the party's history to date. However, compared to the last election, the party has only lost 5%, significantly less than the other two coalition parties, which each lost around 10%.
(C) - Viðreisn - The Reform Party
In the November 2024 election, Viðreisn became the third largest party with 15.8%.
The party was founded in 2016, including by numerous former Independence Party members.
The party is committed to social justice, liberal values and responsible use of natural resources, and is also explicitly EU-friendly. and repeatedly speaks out in favor of direct democracy.
In the 2016 parliamentary election, Viðreisn received 10.5% of the vote straight away, and in the 2017 and 2021 elections he received just under 7% and a good 8%, respectively.
Viðreisn's party leader has been Þórgerður Gunnarsdóttir since 2017. The lawyer, born in 1965, was a parliamentarian for the Independence Party in Alþingi from 1999 to 2013, and was also Minister of Education and deputy chairwoman of the party. Unlike the Independence Party, Þórgerður spoke out in favor of Iceland's long-term EU accession. Since 2016 she has been sitting in parliament again for Viðreisn.
The People's Party became the fourth strongest party with 13.8% in the November 2024 election.
The party's founder and party leader is Inga Sæland, a visually impaired lawyer (born 1959). Her personal experiences with her disability and the associated difficulties and discrimination in everyday life were the reason she founded the party. She has now distanced herself from previous xenophobic statements and sometimes criticizes the treatment of refugees in Iceland as “cruel”.
When the People's Party ran for parliamentary elections for the first time in 2016, it only received 3.5% of the vote. At the next election in 2017 the party was at just under 7% and in 2021 at just under 9%.
The Center Party came in fifth place with 12.1% of the vote.
The party was formed in 2017 as a split from the Progress Party. The party wants to focus economic development on agriculture and tourism, a reorganization of financial and banking policy and is vehemently against joining the EU.
The Center Party's founder and leader is Sigmundur Davið Gunnlaugsson. He was born in 1975 and studied business administration in Iceland, then went to universities in Moscow and Oxford, but without graduating there. He worked for the state broadcaster and, after the banking crisis in Iceland, he organized a petition on social media for the rights of Icelanders in Great Britain. He then ran for leader of the Progress Party in 2009, joining the party two weeks before his candidacy. He has sat in parliament for the Progress Party since 2009 and was Prime Minister of Iceland from 2013 to 2016. He resigned in 2016 in the Panama Papers scandal because of his and his wife's holdings in a shell company in the British Virgin Islands. In September 2017 he left the Progress Party and founded the Center Party in time for the October 2017 elections.
Sigmundur hit the headlines again in 2018 as part of the so-called Klaustur affair: Sigmundur and several parliamentarians from the Center Party as well as two MPs from the Progress Party were noticed in the Klaustur bar, opposite the parliament, by making very sexist and anti-disabled statements. An Icelandic woman who happened to be present overheard the loud conversation, then recorded it on her cell phone and played the recording to the media. As a result of the scandal, the Progressive Party parliamentarians were expelled from their party and then joined the Center Party. The men involved later apologized for their comments, saying they were "very drunk."
The Center Party received 10.9% out of the box in the 2017 parliamentary election and came in fourth place. In the 2021 election, the party only got 5.4%.
(B) - Framsóknarflokkurinn - The Progressive Party
The sixth and last party to pass the 5% threshold in the November 2024 election is the Progress Party with 7.8%.
The Progress Party was formed in 1916 through the merger of the Farmers' Party (Bændaflokkur) and the Independent Farmers (Óháðir bændur).
The party represents the interests of farmers and fishermen and is very critical of the EU. Individual members also attracted attention through statements about Iceland's possible withdrawal from NATO.
In 2005, the Progress Party became the first Icelandic party to introduce gender quotas for both sexes.
At the Congress of the Progress Party in 2015, a draft resolution was presented by the party in which global warming was described as "exciting": Climate change can ultimately lead to a variety of new opportunities for Icelandic agriculture and thus a strengthening of agriculture. However, these expectations have not yet been fulfilled...
Great article, really helps understand the parties.
ReplyDeleteas an outsider living here and knowing Iceland for over 20 years. It is surprising how much Iceland has changed and slipped. Allowing core infrastructure and assets to be owned or controlled by non Icelandic companies or people. I'm not certain that the controlling system (government and authorities) have fully grasped what the true influential percentage of non Icelanders is. Most percentage figures take whole population but in reality the influence and changing force is in the working age population, my estimate is that is edging towards 30%. Nothing wrong with it so long as the Icelandic core values are enforced with rigour. If that requires stronger laws then so be it. Otherwise in 10 years we will just be another European country.