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Iceland Election 2016: Guide To The Pirate Party And Other Contenders, Key Issues, When To Expect Results

10/29/2016

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While Donald Trump may be trailing in the polls heading into next month’s presidential election, a group of very different political mavericks could well sweep into power in Iceland on Saturday. The Pirate Party, which started just four years ago with a call to end perceived political corruption in the wake of the 2008 economic crash, is battling for the lead in the polls and has a strong chance of forming a government after Iceland’s parliamentary elections.
Why are the elections being held now? The popularity of the Pirate Party has been boosted by the 2008 economic crash, which ruined the Icelandic economy and led to a controversial $4.6 billion bank bailout, as well as by the release of the Panama Papers earlier this year. In the leaked documents, Iceland’s then Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson and his wife Anna Sigurlaug Pálsdóttir were found to have set up an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands, an international tax haven. While not illegal, it caused huge demonstrations in capital Reykjavik and forced Gunnlaugsson’s resignation in April. The center-right ruling coalition replaced him with Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson, a fellow member of the Progressive Party, but also called early elections. And now Iceland’s established parties could pay a large price for the scandals
Who is the Pirate Party? The party’s leader Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a 49-year old who describes herself a “poetician,” is a former collaborator with WikiLeaks. Jónsdóttir, who insists she has no ambition to be prime minister, has said she wants to be the “Robin Hood of power” and is in favor of direct democracy, full government transparency, decriminalizing drugs,as well as offering asylum to whistleblowers, including Edward Snowden.

"To be a Pirate means to allow for the 21st century to enter the legal framework all citizens depend on,” Oktavía Jónsdóttir, who is running for the second seat of the South Constituency, told International Business Times earlier this week. “Our electoral success means the Icelandic people want change and trust the Pirates to lead by ethical example without corruption." 
Which other parties are involved? The current coalition of the Progressive Party and the Independence Party has dominated Icelandic politics for much of the country’s independent history. In the last parliamentary elections in 2013, the Independence Party received the most votes, with 26 percent, while the Progressive Party garnered 24 percent, taking 19 seats each in the country’s 63-member parliament.  Latest opinion polls show the Pirate Party vying for the lead with the Independence Party. But there will be far more than just those three parties competing for votes. There is also the Left-Green Party, the centrist Bright Future and the center-left Social Democratic Alliance.
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    Election 2016 Results 

    Invalid/blank votes 5,574
    Total 195,204
    Registered voters 246,515
    ​Turnout 79.19%

    Independence Party (54,990) 29.00% 21 seats
    Left-Green Movement (30,166) 15.91% 10 seats
    Pirate Party (27,449) 14.48% 10 seats
    Progressive Party (21,791) 11.49% 8 seats
    Reform (19,870) 10.48% 7 seats
    Bright Future (13,578) 7.16% 4 seats
    Social Democratic Alliance (10,893) 5.74% 3 seats
    People’s Party (6,707) 3.54 % No seats
    Dawn (3,275) 1.7% No seats
    People’s Front of Iceland (575) 0.30% No seats
    Icelandic National Front (303) 0.16% No seats
    Humanist Party (33) 0.02% No seats

    In brief | Pirate Party
    What: A pro-free speech, anti-authoritarian political party in Iceland
    Formed: 2012

    Founders: A group of anarchists, hackers and internet-freedom activists

    Leader: The party eschews formal leaders but Birgitta Jonsdottir is the most senior of three Pirate lawmakers in Iceland’s parliament

    Pirate policies
    • direct democracy
    • a new national constitution
    • public vetoes over new laws
    • greater scrutiny of the workings of government
    • strict safeguards for individuals’ online and offline privacy
    • public ownership of the country’s natural resources

    “I would like everybody in Iceland to find the pirate within, because the pirate within really represents change and a collective vision for the future.”
    - Birgitta Jonsdottir, Pirate Party lawmaker

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