Progressive Mayoral Candidate Allegedly “Tricked” Immigrants

The Progressive Party’s candidate for mayor may have kept her opinions of a mosque in Iceland to herself when she met with some of Iceland’s immigrant population, while allegedly plying them for votes.

Kvennablaðið reports, in an article entitled “Were The Progressives Tricking Immigrants?”, that on May 22 – the day before Progressive mayoral candidate Sveinbjörg Birna Sveinbjörnsdóttir announced she would revoke a plot of land the city approved for the building of a mosque – she met with a group of immigrants at a so-called “Immigrant’s Evening” at Suðurlandsbraut 24.

An unnamed source who spoke to Kvennablaðið, and who took part in the Progressive’s campaign, said that the purpose of the meeting was to inform immigrants on how “off-site voting” works (wherein ballots are mailed in before election day), to drive them to Laugardalshöll to vote, and then give them light refreshments upon their return with their ballots in sealed envelopes.

What was not on the agenda, however, was the Progressive’s opposition to the building of a mosque in Iceland.

Those immigrants who might have found her remarks about a mosque in Iceland distasteful, yet voted for the party off-site before knowing her position, are not exactly without options. Kvennablaðið points out Article 65 of the Law on Municipal Elections, which states that if a voter casts a ballot off-site, but then shows up to a voting booth on election day, the off-site ballot is nullified and the vote cast on election day is counted as valid.