Icelandic parliamentary election, October 1959
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Early parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 25 and 26 October 1959.[1] Following the electoral reforms made after the June elections, the Independence Party won 16 of the 40 seats in the Lower House of the Althing.[2]
Electoral reforms
The June 1959 elections had ended with both the Independence Party and the Progressive Party winning 13 seats, despite the IP receiving 42.5% of the vote to the PP's 27.2%.[3] The electoral system involved a mix of single member constituencies, two-member constituencies elected using proportional representation (PR) and one large multi-member constituency for Reykjavík that also used PR.[4]
The reforms saw the creation of eight multi-member constituencies elected using PR together with 11 compensatory seats.[4] The number of seats for Reykjavík was also increased,[4] increasing the overall total in the Lower House from 35 to 40 and in the Upper House from 17 to 20.[5]
Results
| Party | Votes | % | Lower House | Upper House | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seats | +/– | Seats | +/– | |||
| Independence Party | 33,800 | 39.7 | 16 | +3 | 8 | +1 |
| Progressive Party | 21,882 | 25.7 | 11 | –2 | 6 | 0 |
| People's Alliance | 13,621 | 16.0 | 7 | +2 | 3 | +1 |
| Social Democratic Party | 12,909 | 15.2 | 6 | +2 | 3 | +1 |
| National Preservation Party | 2,883 | 3.4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Invalid/blank votes | 1,331 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 86,426 | 100 | 40 | +5 | 20 | +3 |
| Registered voters/turnout | 95,637 | 90.4 | – | – | – | – |
| Source: Nohlen & Stöver | ||||||
References
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