Lilja Alfreðsdóttir Elected Progressive Party Chair

Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir, former MP and minister, was elected as the head of Framsóknarflokkurinn (The Progressive Party) during the party’s assembly last weekend.

Lilja received a majority vote constituting 58 percent of the total ballots. She is the first elected female chair of the party in history — the second to serve the position. From 1995-1999, former MP and minister Valgerður Sverrisdóttir’s duties as vice chair led her to assume office after the resignation of party leader Guðni Ágústsson.

Prior to Lilja’s election, she served as vice chair of the party since 2016. From 2017, Lilja assumed the office of culture minister 2024, when the party suffered a historic loss of seats in the Alþingi elections that same year.

Lilja’s opposing candidate was Ingibjörg Isaksen, Progressive Party MP and parliamentary party leader.

According to RÚV, Sigurður Ingi Jóhannesson, outgoing party leader, said that the result was unsurprising and emphasised the importance of the new chair getting a decisive tally.