Eleven interesting things about the parliamentary elections

Posted on: 28/10/2016 by Baldur Þórhallsson
  1. Far-Right populist parties do not appear to have any significant support in Iceland, unlike in our Nordic neighbors.
  2. A radical party desiring to undertake major reforms of the Icelandic political system does have major support.
  3. The Social Democratic Alliance is on the brink of collapsing. Social Democrats have seen a significant decline in support across the Nordic states, and Iceland is no exception.
  4. A leftwing party dominates the left spectrum in Icelandic politics, which is inconsistent with the rest of the Nordic states where the Social Democrats tend to dominate the left spectrum.
  5. A pro-European liberal centre-right party appears likely to take a few parliamentary seats in this election, which is largely unprecedented in Iceland but not in the Nordic states.
  6. The conservative Independence Party is struggling. The party no longer dominates political discourse in Icelandic politics.
  7. The electorate appears likely to punish the incumbent government for the third election in a row.
  8. Both the Independence Party and Social Democratic Alliance have splintered, with Viðreisn departing from the Independence Party, and Bright Future departing from the Social Democratic Alliance.
  9. The centrist parties are struggling, which is consistent with international trends.
  10. The traditional four parties have lost a lot of support to newer parties, which reflects similar trends in the rest of Europe.
  11. According to polls, the next government may possibly be comprised of a radical reform party, an old traditional left-green party and two weak social democratic parties. That would be a coalition government without precedent in Icelandic history.
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