1979 Icelandic parliamentary election

none Iceland 1978 2 and 3 December 1979 1983 All 40 seats in the Lower Houseand 20 seats in the Upper House of Althing 89.34% Upper House Lower House Geir Hallgrímsson Geir Hallgrímsson Independence Party (Iceland) Independence Party (Iceland) 6 14 7 14 35.42 35.42 Steingrímur Hermannsson Steingrímur Hermannsson Progressive Party (Iceland) Progressive Party (Iceland) 4 8 6 11 24.94 24.94 Lúdvik Jósepsson Lúdvik Jósepsson People's Alliance (Iceland) People's Alliance (Iceland) 5 9 4 7 19.72 19.72 Benedikt Gröndal Benedikt Gröndal Social Democratic Party (Iceland) Social Democratic Party (Iceland) 5 9 3 7 17.44 17.44 Eggert Haukdal #0000FF Independent Voters no new 1 1.20 Prime Minister Benedikt Gröndal Social Democratic Party (Iceland) Gunnar Thoroddsen Independence Party (Iceland) Parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 2 and 3 December 1979.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p962 978-3-8329-5609-7 The Independence Party remained the largest party in the Lower House of the Althing, winning 14 of the 40 seats.Nohlen & Stöver, p976 Background The 1978 parliamentary election resulted in a hard swing to the left in Icelandic politics. Progressive party leader and former Premier Ólafur Jóhanesson emerged as the head of a coalition consisting of his Progressives, the Social Democrats, and the People's Alliance. Very quickly the disparate views of the coalition began to make themselves very clear, especially in terms of foreign policy. The Progressives were a traditionally isolationist party who supported Iceland's membership in NATO but opposed the U.S. Navy base in Keflavik. These views were not shared with their coalition partners as the People's Alliance opposed both NATO and the Keflavik base, and the Social Democrats were supportive of both.Sallnow John http://archive.org/details/electoralatlasof0000sall An electoral atlas of Europe, 1968-1981 : a political geographic compendium including 76 maps 1982 London; Boston : Butterworth Scientific Internet Archive 978-0-408-10800-3April 2026 Furthermore the coalition faced intense economic scrutiny for their reaction to the inflation crisis. The coalition acted to devalue the Icelandic Krona for the fourth time since 1974. This massively undermined the credibility of the People's Alliance as they had promised to not devalue the Krona.April 2026 The government collapsed after the Social Democratic party withdrew following the news that inflation had hit 85%. The Social Democrats led the interim government that brought Iceland into its first winter election. Results File:1979 Althing.svg LowerHouse +/– UpperHouse +/– Independence Party 43838 14 0 7 +1 Progressive Party 30861 11 +3 6 +2 People's Alliance 24401 7 –2 4 –1 Social Democratic Party 21580 7 –2 3 –2 Independent Voters in the SouthB Breakaway from the Independence Party 1484 1 +1 0 0 #0000FF Independent Voters in the North EastB 857 0 New 0 New Revolutionary Communist League 480 0 0 0 0 The Other Party 158 0 New 0 New The Sunshine Party 92 0 New 0 New 3178 – – – – 0 0 142073 – – – – Nohlen & Stöver By constituency ConstituencyPeople's AllianceSocial DemocraticProgressiveIndependenceOtherEastern31.22%6.00%42.94%19.84%0.00%Northeastern15.93%13.31%43.87%20.52%6.38%Northwestern17.24%10.71%43.91%28.14%0.00%Reykjanes18.29%24.18%17.32%39.85%0.36%Reykjavík22.27%17.77%14.83%43.82%1.30%Southern14.92%14.83%32.44%23.46%14.34%Westfjords15.03%22.10%30.60%32.27%0.00%Western16.04%15.53%37.49%30.93%0.00%Source: Constituency Level Election Archive Aftermath The government was formed in February 1980 as Independence Party deputy leader Gunnar Thoroddson (followed by two fellow dissidents) broke ranks with his party and formed a coalition with the People's Alliance and the Progressives. Portfolios The People's Alliance were given the following three ministries after coalition talks: Energy, Finance, and Health/Social Security The Progressives were given five ministries: the Foreign ministry, Fisheries, Trade/Commerce, Communications, and Education Leaving the Independents: The premiership, Agriculture, and Justice. Notes References Parliament Category:Parliamentary elections in Iceland Iceland