Public support for the ruling parties is declining, while every opposition party in parliament is seeing an upswing in support, according to a new survey by Fréttablaðið and Stöð 2.
As reported, the Progressive Party has lost nearly 50% of its support during its first six months in office, from 24.4% last April to 13.2% today, according to a recent poll from Market and Media Research. Vísir reports that this Fréttablaðið/Stöð 2 poll sheds some light on how parliament would look if elections were held today.
According to the survey, the ruling coalition would take a serious hit. The Independence Party would go from 19 seats to 17, while the Progressives would go from 19 seats to 11. This would not give them enough for a parliamentary majority.
Furthermore, every opposition party in parliament has seen an upswing of support. The greatest rise of support has been for the Social Democrats, who would go from nine seats to 13 if elections were held today. At the same time, the Left-Greens would go from seven seats to nine; Bright Future would go from six seats to nine; and the Pirate Party would go from three seats to four.
The combined number of seats for the opposition – 35 – is enough for a parliamentary majority, but ruling coalitions of more than two parties are rare in Iceland and are typically used only in emergency situations.
The last such coalition was in spring 2009, when the Social Democrats, Left-Greens and Progressives formed an emergency coalition in the wake of the disbanding of the Independence Party/Social Democrat coalition in January of that year. This emergency coalition lasted until elections that April.
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