The Best Party – a satirical political party created by comedian Jón Gnarr as a parody of Icelandic politics – would win two of Reykjavík city council’s 15 seats if elections were held today.
According to a poll conducted by the newspaper Fréttablaðið, wherein respondents were asked who they would vote for if city council elections were held today – the Best Party ranked a surprising 12.7%, equating two seats on city council. At the same time, the Progressives would lose their one and only seat, as would the Liberal Party (whose seat is currently occupied by a man who left the party and is now unaffiliated).
“I think that’s just great,” Gnarr told Vísir. “At the same time, I expected this. We had as our platform to get four seats. But when the elections are this far off, it’s very pleasant when a new party gets this much support. Also because it’s a self-described joke party. I think a joke campaign has never gotten more than one percent.”
Among the other results, support for the Independence Party, Social Democrats and Leftist-Greens remains unchanged. The Independence Party came out on top with 39.4%, or seven seats. The Social Dems achieved 26.3%, equating four seats, and the Leftist-Greens came in at 14.2%, or two seats.