Iceland

Parliament building Alþing, Althing Reykjavik.

IMAGO/Seeliger

Scratching the Seven-Year Itch: Iceland votes to change government

10. December 2024

Luke Field

Note: This article uses Icelandic naming conventions. Most persons referenced do not have family names and are therefore primarily referred to by their given name. On Saturday 30 November, Icelanders went to the polls to elect a new Althing (parliament). The second election to be held this year—following June’s presidential election—the vote came ten months earlier than expected: on Sunday 13 October, after months of significant tensions within the governing coalition, Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson ...
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Framing climate politics

10. March 2022

Eva D. Davidsdottir

Northern Exposure

The importance of activism and grassroots engagement in influencing Icelandic parliamentary election 2021Climate change has become a central concern across the globe, for policy makers as well as the private sector and individuals. The broad scientific consensus represented in the status reports of the IPCC not only underline the gravity of the climate crisis and catastrophic consequences of not lowering carbon emissions, but also provide policymakers with a scientific assessment to frame the action needed to stay within a 1,5-2-degree trajectory. Yet, there is a major ...
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Iceland’s centrist vote has resurged, but the left still has opportunities to govern and grow in a fragmented party system

29. September 2021

Luke Field

Northern Exposure

Voters from both right and left drifted towards Iceland’s centrist parties this weekend—but left-wing Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir still enjoys broad personal support and may yet retain her office. Defying pollsters’ expectations, Saturday’s election result showed strong public support for Iceland’s governing parties: Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir’s eco-socialist Left-Green Movement (Vinstri græn), the right-leaning Independence Party ...
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