General election in Iceland 2009

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Result (in%)

 %

30th

20th

10

0

29.8

23.7

21.7

14.8

7.2

2.2

0.6

S ^a

D.

V

B.

O

F.

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 2007

 % p

   8th

   6th

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

  -6

  -8th

-10

-12

-14

-0.3

-12.9

+7.4

+3.1

+7.2

-5.1

+0.6

S ^a

D.

V

B.

O

F.

Otherwise.

Remarks:

^a 2007: Sum of the Alliance and the Icelandic Movement

Distribution of seats

     

A total of 63 seats

• V : 14
• S : 20
• O : 4
• B : 9
• D : 16

The 2009 general election in Iceland took place on April 25, 2009. In the election, the 63 MPs of the Althing were redefined.

prehistory

The early parliamentary election was scheduled after demonstrators had demanded the resignation of the Haarde government for months in the winter of 2008/2009, most recently in days of blockade of state institutions . This was accused of being responsible for the catastrophic effects of the international financial crisis , which has worsened since 2007, on the Icelandic economy . Iceland was only able to avert national bankruptcy with foreign aid. Inflation and unemployment soared.

Prime Minister Geir Haarde resigned, the previous Minister of Social Affairs Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir headed a minority government made up of the Alliance and the left-green movement that was tolerated by the Progressive Party until the election . Steingrímur J. Sigfússon became finance minister .

Surveys shortly before the election forecast a clear victory for the parliamentary elections on April 25th for the red-green minority government under Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir.

Top candidates (selection)

• 

  Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (Alliance)

• 

  Finance, Fisheries and Agriculture Minister Steingrímur J. Sigfússon (Left-Green Movement)

• 

  Herbert Sveinbjörnsson (Citizens' Movement)

• 

  Guðjón Arnar Kristjánsson (Liberal Party)

Survey

Surveys (in%)

Survey period	D.	B.	S.	V	F.	O
April 2009	24	12	30th	26th	2	7th
March 2009	25th	11	29	28	1	3
February 2009	26th	13	28	26th	2	-
January 2009	24	15th	22nd	30th	3	-
December 2008	25th	8th	28	29	4th	-
November 2008	21st	8th	31	32	3	-
October 2008	28	10	31	27	3	-
September 2008	31	10	33	21st	4th	-
August 2008	32	10	33	19th	4th	-
July 2008	32	9	29	22nd	5	-
June 2008	33	9	30th	20th	4th	-
May 2008	33	8th	31	22nd	5	-
Election 2007	36.6	11.7	26.8	14.3	7.3	-

Election result

Overall result

Result of the 2009 general election in Iceland

Political party		be right			Seats
		number	%	+/-	number	+/-
	Alliance (S)	55,758	29.8	+3.0	20th	+2
	Independence Party (D)	44,371	23.7	−12.9	16	−9
	Left-Green Movement (V)	40,581	21.7	+7.4	14th	+5
	Progress Party (B)	27,699	14.8	+3.1	9	+2
	Citizens Movement (O)	13,519	7.2	+7.2	4th	+4
	Liberal Party of Iceland (F)	4.148	2.2	−5.1	-	−4
	Democracy Movement (P)	1.107	0.6	+0.6	-	-
total		187.183	100.0		63
Valid votes		187.183	96.5
Invalid votes		6,792	3.5
voter turnout		193.975	85.1
Eligible voters		227.843	100.0
Source:

With 29.8% of the vote, the Social Democratic Alliance replaced the Independence Party as the strongest party, which has always been the strongest party since 1942. Together with the Left-Green movement, which received 21.7% of the vote, the Left Alliance received 51.5% of the vote. This was the first time since 1944 that the left parties had an absolute majority. The conservatives who have dominated since 1944 fell from 36.1% to 23.7%. The Independence Party and the Liberal Party suffered heavy losses. The Liberal Party is no longer represented in Parliament. The citizens' movement that emerged from the financial crisis made it straight to the Althing .

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir formed a new government, the Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir II government . She announced that she would “ bring Iceland into the EU as soon as possible ”.

Result by constituency

Elected MPs in the constituencies. Each box corresponds to one MP

Result by constituency

Political party		northwest		Northeast		south		southwest		Reykjavík South		Reykjavík North
		%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats	%	Seats
	S.	22.7	2	22.7	3	28.0	3	32.2	4th	32.9	4th	32.9	4th
	D.	22.9	2	17.5	2	26.2	3	27.6	4th	23.2	3	21.4	2
	V	22.8	3	29.7	3	17.1	1	17.4	2	22.9	2	24.0	3
	B.	22.5	2	25.3	2	20.0	2	11.6	1	9.7	1	9.6	1
	O	3.3	-	3.0	-	5.1	1	9.1	1	8.7	1	9.6	1
	F.	5.3	-	1.6	-	3.1	-	1.5	-	2.0	-	1.6	-
	P	0.4	-	0.3	-	0.5	-	0.6	-	0.6	-	0.9	-
total			9		10		10		12		11		11

See also

• List of members of Althing 2009
• Icelandic political system

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Results of parliamentary elections ( memento of the original from November 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. statice.is (English) 
2. ↑ wort.lu: Early elections in Iceland
3. ↑ Erakondade toetusreitingud Þjóðarpúls Gallup (Icelandic)
4. ^ Gunnar Herrmann: Elections in Iceland: for the first time since 1944 left majority. In: sueddeutsche.de . April 26, 2009, archived from the original ; accessed on August 24, 2019 .