2013 Elections - Parliament
On April 28, 2013 Iceland's center-right opposition declared victory in parliamentary elections, as voters punished the incumbent leftist government for harsh austerity measures imposed during its four years as ruling party. The win marked a return to power for the right wing Independence Party and the centrist-agrarian Progressive Party, which had been booted out of office in 2009 during the country's financial crisis. Both parties want to end the Atlantic island nation's European Union accession talks.
The 27 April 2013 parliamentary elections in Iceland were conducted in a pluralistic and transparent manner, but certain aspects of the electoral legal framework could benefit from further review, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) says in its final report, which was released on 24 June 2013. The document notes that voters enjoyed a wide choice of political options, the electoral process was marked by a high degree of respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, and voters showed trust in the impartiality of the election administration. The assessment of the legal framework concluded that there was a generally sound basis for the conduct of democratic elections. The report acknowledges that the legislation underwent a number of amendments after the 2009 elections.
It, however, recommends a further review of the legislation to reduce regional discrepancies in voting weight between constituencies. For these elections, three constituencies, Reykjavik North, South and the Southwest, collectively had some 46 per cent more registered voters per seat than the remaining three constituencies. The difference of registered voters per seat was largest between the Southwest and the Northwest constituencies; approximately 82 per cent. Therefore, significant differences in the number of votes required to elect a candidate within different constituencies still remain.
The election campaign is generally unregulated. No official campaign period exists, but the campaign reportedly began to take shape in early March when early voting began. Campaigning could take place up to and including election day.
The campaign saw a diverse political field with four established parliamentary parties and eleven newly registered political groupings contesting the elections, thus offering voters a broad choice.30 Many of the newly registered entities were formed in 2013 and most of them regarded themselves as politically left of center, thus dividing that portion of the political spectrum.
Participation in the political process is historically high and attributed by some to the personal connections citizens have with politicians in a small country. A large number of citizens are registered members of political parties. The Independence Party claims they have over fifty thousand registered members and the SDA about eighteen thousand members. Along with the other political parties, this encompasses a significant portion of the population. However, participation in party primaries was low during this election and OSCE/ODIHR EAM interlocutors attributed the emergence of new political entities to public disappointment with the traditional parties and with politics in general, given the economic crisis.
As a result of this crisis, the main topic of the campaign concerned household debt and how best to tackle it. The Progressive Party pledged to write-off mortgages by as much as 20 per cent, which seemed to dictate the primary focus of the rest of the campaign. Another prominent issue was the management of natural resources, especially the important fishing industry. Other issues raised during the campaign included health services, taxation, European Union accession,31 employment, and constitutional amendments. In rural areas, a variety of other issues were raised, including concerns over the potential move of Reykjavik’s domestic airport as its central location is relied upon for access to health services and makes commuting for work purposes feasible.
The campaign was primarily conducted in the broadcast media via participation in public debates and interview programs. In addition, political groupings, especially those newly registered, relied heavily on internet platforms, with a focus on social media such as Facebook or Twitter and also on individual blogs. Other means of campaigning included: handing out pamphlets in public places and to a lesser extent canvassing door-to-door or organizing group meetings. A tradition also exists for candidates to make organized visits to large workplaces in order to speak with voters during their lunch or coffee breaks.
In elections on 27 April 2013, the center-right parties returned to power after four years in opposition. The Progressive Party (PP)'s share jumped from nine to 19 seats, the same as the Independence Party (IP), in the 63-member parliament. The IP had dominated Icelandic politics since the country gained independence from Denmark in 1944 and the PP had been its coalition partner until 2007, when the Social Democratic Alliance Party (SDA) joined the government. The SDA, led by Mr. Arni Pall Arnason, took nine seats, a sharp drop from 20. The Left - Green Movement (LGM) and two new parties - the Bright Future (a pro-EU party comprising former PP members) and the Pirate Party (promoting reform of the country's copyright and open content laws) - shared the remaining 16 seats.
The outgoing Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir (SDA), who was retiring from politics, had pushed for the country's membership in the European Union (EU) as a way out of a 2008 banking crisis. During the election campaign, PP leader Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson insisted that Iceland should seek closer ties with countries outside the European Union while IP leader Bjarni Benediktsson argued that the country should maintain a close relationship with the EU without joining it. The PP promised to reduce household debt through write-offs and the abolition of inflation-indexed mortgages. The IP promised to boost growth by encouraging investment and lowering taxes.
On 30 April, President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson tasked Mr. Gunnlaugsson (PP) to form a new government. On 22 May, the PP and the IP agreed to form a coalition government under the premiership of Mr. Gunnlaugsson.
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