According to a poll conducted by Market and Media Research (MMR), one-third of the country’s voters would consider electing whatever party Guðmundur Steingrímsson intends to form, even though it has no platform and has yet to even be named. Support differed greatly depending on party affiliation.
Last August, Guðmundur left the Progressive Party, citing differences of opinion over joining the EU (which he supports) and being uncomfortable with Progressive chairman Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson’s more nationalist statements.
Since then, he has talked of forming his own party. In describing a possible platform, he said at the time, “We need a liberal, internationalist, green centrist party in Iceland. As far as I can tell there are plenty of people calling for such a party to be formed, but there’s no rush.”
The party as yet not officially existing, having no definable platform and not even having a name has apparently done little to quell support, as a third of voters in the MMR poll said they would consider the possibility of voting for it.
Support varied greatly between the parties. The strongest support came from those who identify as Social Democrats – 65.9% said they would consider voting for him. He previous ran and was elected to parliament as a member of the Social Democrats, but left to join the Progressives – the party that his father and his father before him previously chaired – in 2009. Leftist-Greens followed close behind, at 47.5%
Unsurprisingly, only 17.4% of Progressive voters would consider electing Guðmundur’s party, but conservatives actually showed the greatest reluctance, at 7.1%
While there was little difference of support across income levels or gender, people in the capital were more likely to consider voting for him than people in the countryside, where the Progressives have traditional had their strongest showing.
When Guðmundur’s party will be formed still remains to be seen.
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