From Iceland — Poll: Centre Party Continues Upwards Rise; Independence Party Sinking

Poll: Centre Party Continues Upwards Rise; Independence Party Sinking

Published November 28, 2019

Andie Sophia Fontaine
Photo by
Johann/norden.org/Wikimedia Commons

A new poll from Market and Media Research (MMR) shows that the Independence Party is continuing to reach historic lows of support, while the Centre Party continues a slow and steady rise, and is now the second largest of the parliamentary parties.

According to the data, the Independence Party is still the largest party in the country, but only just so—they are currently polling at 18.1%, an historic low that is even lower than the historic low of the previous poll taken last month, when they were at 21.1%. The other two parties in the ruling coalition—the Left-Greens and the Progressive Party—are holding relatively steady, within 1% of the previous poll, at 10.6% and 9.4% respectively.

While this puts the total support for the ruling coalition parties at 38.1%, respondents asked about their support for the ruling coalition as a whole saw 41.5% approving of it—in either case, not a great result for the government.

At the same time, the Centre Party is continuing its upwards trend, now polling at 16.8%, up from 13.5% in the previous poll and up from 10.9% during the 2017 elections, when they were just newly formed.

Where other opposition parties are concerned, the Pirates saw a small bump in support, going from 8.9% to 10.8%; the Reform Party is virtually unchanged, going from 10% to 9.7%; the Social Democrats dipped from 15.3% to 13.2%; and the People’s Party went from 8% to 6.3%.

This being the case, the current ruling coalition would fall if elections were held today. Parliamentary elections in Iceland will not be held until 2021, barring another government collapse or other political crisis, so whether any of these parties can maintain or gain support by that time still remains to be seen.

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