The Social Democrats have won Iceland’s parliamentary election with all the previous government parties taking hits.
The vote on November 30 came after the government collapsed in October over immigration policies. Then-prime minister Bjarni Benediktsson led a diverse coalition of Conservatives, centrists and progressives but opposing views on immigration proved insurmountable.
This resulted in government parties losing 18 seats in the latest elections.
Benediktsson’s Conservative Independence Party dropped to 19.4 per cent of the vote and lost two seats. The centrist Liberal Progressive Party lost eight seats and is now the smallest party in the parliament, representing 7.8 per cent of voters.
The Left-Green Movement suffered the worst loss, losing all its eight seats, and the party are now out of parliament after garnering just 2.3 per cent of the vote. Similarly, the Pirate Party, not a part of the government group, lost six MPs and ended up with 3 per cent of the votes. It will not have any parliamentary representation either.
The biggest winner was the Social Democratic Alliance, which became the largest party in parliament after scoring 20.8 per cent and winning nine seats, up from six previously in the 63-seat parliament, the Althingi.
Kristrun Mjoll Frostadottir, the 36-year-old leader of the Social Democrats said: “I’m extremely proud of all the work that we’ve done. We obviously see that people want to see changes in the political landscape.”
The Liberal Reform Party (Viðreisn) won six seats and is the most likely partner to collaborate with the Social Democrats, though another partner will be needed to form a majority. Liberal Reform leader Þorgerður Katrín Gunnarsdóttir is a proponent of Iceland joining the European Union. During an election debate, she stated that the nation should have the final say on the matter.
Latest polls show that EU membership has become popular, with just over 45 per cent of voters in favour, 35 pet cent against and the rest undecided, according to Reuters.
Despite migration and asylum being the primary cause of the fall of the previous government, polls have indicated that economic issues, health care and housing were also top concerns of the electorate.
For the past three years, Iceland has been struggling with high inflation and high borrowing costs.
With a population of fewer than 400,000, the country has longstanding democratic traditions. Among the oldest legislature in the world is the Althingi, which was established in 930 by Viking settlers.
