Number Of Women Voted Into City Councils In Iceland Never Higher

Quite a few interesting things happened during last weekend’s municipal elections, including a notable increase in the number of women voted into the city council.

According to Vísir, women occupy about half of the city council seats all over the country, with the female representatives in the municipality of Fjallabyggð reaching a striking 71.4%. In Reykjavík, women make up for 60% of the city council members—14 out of 23 members, to be precise.

Only two elected parties had an equal number of women and men—namely the Independence Party, which is now the biggest party in City Council, with four female members out of eight; and the Reform Party, which managed to get one man and a one woman into City Hall.

On the other hand, the Social Democrats, whose leader is the current mayor Dagur B. Eggertsson, counts four women out of seven. Both council member from the Pirate Party are women and so are the representatives from the Socialist Party, the Centre Party, the People’s Party and the Left Greens.

Out of these 14 women, only two are under thirty years old—namely Dóra Björt Guðjónsdóttir from the Pirate Party and Sanna Magdalena Mörtudóttir from the Socialist Party. Sanna, who is 26, also broke a 40-year-old record as the youngest representative elected in municipal elections since 1974.

Only two immigrants ended up being elected in city council: Pawel Bartoszek of the Reform Party and Sabine Leskopf of the Social Democrats. Find the final results of Reykjavík city election here.