Early voting: Parliamentary elections have begun in Iceland

An early parliamentary election has begun in Iceland. Almost 270,000 eligible voters are called upon to use their votes to re-allocate the 63 parliamentary seats in the Althing in the capital Reykjavik. More than one in ten of them have already voted before the actual election day, everyone else has until 10 p.m. today (local time, 11 p.m. CET) the opportunity to vote for one of the candidates from the eleven competing parties.

A provisional election result is not expected until Sunday morning. However, harsh weather conditions, particularly in the east of the country, could lead to delays.

The next parliamentary election on the island in the North Atlantic was actually not due until late summer 2025. However, extensive disagreements in Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson’s three-party coalition, which reached across the political center, caused the government to collapse in mid-October.

Social Democrats ahead in polls

According to the latest surveys, the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin), a previous opposition party, has a chance of becoming the strongest force this time with around 20 percent of the vote. The Liberal Reform Party (Vidreisn), which is also in opposition, and Benediktsson’s liberal-conservative Independence Party could end up a few percentage points behind.

However, the Independence Party, like the two other previous government parties – the Progress Party, which is located in the political center, and the Left-Green Movement – must expect losses compared to the last election in 2021. The Left-Greens, which had Katrín Jakobsdóttir as Prime Minister for almost seven years until April, could even be kicked out of parliament completely.

It is still completely unclear who will form the future government. If they do well, the Social Democrats and the Reform Party could achieve a parliamentary majority together with a junior partner. But a conservative-right-wing three-party coalition could also be possible.