Politics of Iceland - Political Parties and Elections

Political Parties and Elections

For other political parties see List of political parties in Iceland. An overview on elections and election results is included in Elections in Iceland.

After four 4-year terms as the world's first elected woman president, the widely popular Vigdís Finnbogadóttir chose not to run for re-election in 1996. More than 86% of voters turned out in the June 29, 1996 presidential elections to give former leftist party chairman Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson a 41% plurality and relatively comfortable 12% victory margin over the closest of three other candidates. Traditionally limited to 6–12 weeks, Iceland's campaign season was marked by several intensely personal attacks on Grímsson, a former finance minister who tried to erase memories of his controversial support of inflationary policies and opposition to the U.S. military presence at the NATO base in Keflavík. Grímsson successfully has used his largely ceremonial office to promote Icelandic trade abroad and family values at home.

e • d Summary of the 26 June 2004 Icelandic presidential election results

Candidates	Votes	%
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson	90,662	85.6
Baldur Ágústsson	13,250	12.3
Ástþór Magnússon	2,001	1.9
Blank votes	27,627	–
Invalid votes	834	–
Total	134,374	100
Registered voters/turnout	213,553	62.92
Source: IFES

The next presidential elections are scheduled on 30 June 2012.

The last parliamentary elections took place on April 25, 2009 after the government of Geir Haarde was forced to resign following street protests over its handling of the Icelandic economy. The ruling coalition parties, the Independence Party and the Progressive Party lost four seats in Alþingi but nevertheless still hold a slim majority of 32 seats, a 1 seat majority in the 63 seat Alþingi. But Independence Party and Progressive Party have split up after 12 years together; Independence Party formed a new coalition with Social Democratic Alliance under Haarde, a coalition holding 43 seats with a 20 seat majority in the 63 Seat Alþingi. A total of 185.392 votes were cast constituting 83.6% of 221.368 the electorate. Geir Haarde's government was forced to resign in January 2009 and called elections two years early, in which the outgoing left-wing interim government of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir won an overall majority.

The results of the 2009 election were as follows:

V • T • E Summary of the 25 April 2009 Icelandic parliamentary election results

Party		Chairperson(s)	Votes	%	±	Seats	±
	Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin)	Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir	55,758	29.79	3.03	20	2
	Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn)	Bjarni Benediktsson	44,371	23.70	12.94	16	9
	Left-Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin - grænt framboð)	Steingrímur J. Sigfússon	40,581	21.68	7.33	14	5
	Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn)	Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson	27,699	14.80	3.08	9	2
	Citizens' Movement (Borgarahreyfingin)	no designated chairperson	13,519	7.22	—	4	—
	Liberal Party (Frjálslyndi flokkurinn)	Guðjón Arnar Kristjánsson	4,148	2.22	5.04	0	4
	Democracy Movement (Lýðræðishreyfingin)	Ástþór Magnússon	1,107	0.59	—	0	—
Valid votes			187,183	96.50
Invalid votes			566	0.29
Blank votes			6,226	3.21
Total			193,975	100.00	—	63	—
Female electorate			114,269	50.15
Male electorate			113,574	49.85
Female turnout			98,013	85.77
Male turnout			95,962	84.49
Electorate/Turnout			227,843	85.14
Source: Statistics Iceland
Last election (2007) — Next election (2013)