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| Iceland elections leave ruling centre-right party in driving seat | Iceland elections leave ruling centre-right party in driving seat |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Iceland’s incumbent Independence party was in pole position to try to form a new government after elections on Saturday produced major gains for the anti-establishment Pirate party and its allies, but no outright winner. | Iceland’s incumbent Independence party was in pole position to try to form a new government after elections on Saturday produced major gains for the anti-establishment Pirate party and its allies, but no outright winner. |
| With all votes counted, the Pirates – founded four years ago by a group of activists, anarchists and former hackers – and their three left-of-centre partners held a combined total of 27 seats, five short of a majority in the country’s 63-seat parliament. | With all votes counted, the Pirates – founded four years ago by a group of activists, anarchists and former hackers – and their three left-of-centre partners held a combined total of 27 seats, five short of a majority in the country’s 63-seat parliament. |
| The centre-right Independence party won almost 30% of the vote, significantly more than the opinion polls had predicted, winning a total of 29 seats with its coalition partner of the past three years, the Progressive party. | |
| In a campaign dominated in its early stages by public fury at Iceland’s traditional elites and a strong desire for political change, voters appear to have been persuaded by the Independence party’s promises to lower taxes and keep Iceland’s economic recovery on track. | In a campaign dominated in its early stages by public fury at Iceland’s traditional elites and a strong desire for political change, voters appear to have been persuaded by the Independence party’s promises to lower taxes and keep Iceland’s economic recovery on track. |
| “I cannot deny that if the results stay this way … it would be natural that we are a leading party in the next government,” said the leader of the party’s leader, Bjarni Benediktsson, one of the its 21 MPs. “We are gaining new seats in parliament, so we are very happy.” | |
| The final shape of the government remains unclear, with multiple permutations possible. But the results mean the seven MPs from the newly established, liberal and pro-European Viðreisn, or Regeneration, party, which split from Independence this year over the question of Iceland’s eventual EU membership, could well be kingmakers – making already delicate coalition negotiations even more difficult than usual. | |
| With 30 female MPs, Iceland has now also leapfrogged Finland and Sweden to become the parliament with the highest proportion of female parliamentarians – more than 47% – in Europe. | |
| The Pirates, riding a wave of public anger at what many voters saw as endemic political corruption laid bare by the 2008 financial crash and April’s Panama Papers scandal, had been predicted to win up to 20% of the vote and even become Iceland’s largest party. | |
| But the party’s co-founder, Birgitta Jónsdóttir, an activist, poet and former WikiLeaks collaborator, said it was satisfied with the result – 14.5% and 10 MPs, which was more than three times the number achieved in the last elections in 2013. | |
| “Our internal predictions showed 10 to 15%, so this is at the top of the range,” she said. “We are a platform for young people, for progressive people who shape and reshape our society … Like Robin Hood, because Robin Hood was a pirate, we want to take the power from the powerful to give it to the people.” | |
| Some of the party’s younger voters, though, were upset. “I’m really sad and I’m really disappointed in our young generation,” said Bylgja Gudjonsdottir, a 22-year-old student. “This is our next generation that is taking the country to the next level. But they keep voting for the criminals we have here.” | Some of the party’s younger voters, though, were upset. “I’m really sad and I’m really disappointed in our young generation,” said Bylgja Gudjonsdottir, a 22-year-old student. “This is our next generation that is taking the country to the next level. But they keep voting for the criminals we have here.” |
| Opponents argued the Pirates could scare investors and derail an economy still recovering from the 2008 meltdown, when Iceland’s three biggest banks collapsed owing 11 times the country’s GDP, the Reykjavík stock market fell 97% and the value of the krona halved. | Opponents argued the Pirates could scare investors and derail an economy still recovering from the 2008 meltdown, when Iceland’s three biggest banks collapsed owing 11 times the country’s GDP, the Reykjavík stock market fell 97% and the value of the krona halved. |
| Helped by a huge tourism boom – 2.4 million visitors, nearly seven times the country’s population, are expected in 2017 – economic growth is forecast to reach 4.3% this year, and unemployment has fallen to just over 3%. | Helped by a huge tourism boom – 2.4 million visitors, nearly seven times the country’s population, are expected in 2017 – economic growth is forecast to reach 4.3% this year, and unemployment has fallen to just over 3%. |
| The Pirates campaigned for government transparency, individual freedoms and the fight against corruption, and advocated an “unlimited right” for citizens to be involved in political decision-making by both proposing new legislation and deciding on it in national referendums. | |
| Part of a global anti-establishment trend, the party also favours decriminalising drugs, offering asylum to whistleblowers such as Edward Snowden and relaxing restrictions on the use of the virtual currency bitcoin. | |
| Of the Pirate party’s allies, the Left-Green movement also picked up 10 seats, the Social Democrats three, and the centrist Bright Futurefour, according to the preliminary results. | Of the Pirate party’s allies, the Left-Green movement also picked up 10 seats, the Social Democrats three, and the centrist Bright Futurefour, according to the preliminary results. |
| The election was triggered by the resignation of the former prime minister, Sigmundur Davið Gunnlaugsson, who became the first major casualty of the Panama Papers in April after the leaked legal documents revealed he and his wife had millions stashed offshore. | The election was triggered by the resignation of the former prime minister, Sigmundur Davið Gunnlaugsson, who became the first major casualty of the Panama Papers in April after the leaked legal documents revealed he and his wife had millions stashed offshore. |
| The revelations sparked outrage and some of the largest protests in Iceland’s history, forcing the government to replace Gunnlaugsson with the then agriculture and fisheries minister, Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson, and promise fresh elections before the end of the year. | |
| More than 600 Icelanders – including cabinet ministers, bankers and business leaders – were shown to have holdings hidden away in offshore accounts. | |