Iceland’s Elections: Ruling Coalition Expands Seats, Coalition Talks Begin

The final results of last night’s general elections saw the ruling coalition—led by the Left-Greens with the Independence Party and the Progressive Party—increase their majority from 33 seats to 37. However, this was largely due to the performance of the Progressive Party, as the Left-Greens lost some of their seats during the previous term and subsequent elections, while the Independence Party held steady.

In the final outcome, the results were as follows:

Left-Greens: Eight seats, down from 11 in 2017 (two MPs from this party left during the previous term).
Independence Party: Retains 16 seats.
Progressive Party: 13 seats, up from eight.
Social Democrats: Six seats, down from seven.
Pirate Party: Retains six seats.
Reform Party: Five seats, up from four.
People’s Party: Six seats, up from four in 2017 (two MPs from this party also left during the previous term).
Centre Party: Three seats, down from seven.

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The Socialist Party, which did not yet have a seat in Parliament at the time of the elections but polled consistently high enough to possibly win some seats, did not make the cut.

It is expected that the first negotiation talks will be between the ruling coalition parties. That said, even if they agree to continue their cooperation, there is no guarantee that the Left-Greens will continue to lead the government, especially with the strong showing of the Progressive Party.

Some records were broken this year as well. Most of Iceland’s Parliament is now comprised of women, who number 33 out of Parliament’s 63 seats. Lenya Rún Taha Karim of the Pirate Party has also become the youngest member of Parliament, at the age of 21, and the first person of Kurdish descent to serve in the legislature. UPDATE, 18:44: A recount in the Northwest District has changed these results: men now comprise 33 seats and women 30, and Lenya Rún has been replaced with Gísli Rafn Ólafsson.

Meanwhile, Tómas Andrés Tómasson of the People’s Party is now the oldest MP; he is 72 years old.

There is also quite a large number of new faces this election season, as 26 of those who won a seat will be serving for the first time.

Voter turn-out was 80.1% this year, barely less than during the 2017 elections, when turn-out was at 81.2%