June 1959 Icelandic parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 28 June 1959.[1] The Independence Party and the Progressive Party both won 13 seats in the Lower House of the Althing.[2] Following the tie, electoral reforms were introduced and early elections were held in October.
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All 35 seats in the Lower House and 17 seats in the Upper House of Althing 18 and 9 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 86,147 (90.6% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
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Electoral system
The elections were conducted under two electoral systems. Twenty-one members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, while the remainder were elected using D'Hondt method proportional representation: twelve members in two-member constituencies, eight members in Reykjavík, and eleven from a single national compensatory list. To earn national list seats, a party had to win at least one constituency seat. In constituencies electing two or more members, within the party list, voters had the option to re-rank the candidates and could also strike a candidate out. Allocation of seats to candidates was done using a system based on the Borda count.[3]
Results
| Party | Votes | % | Lower House | Upper House | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seats | +/– | Seats | +/– | |||
| Independence Party | 36,029 | 42.5 | 13 | 0 | 7 | +1 |
| Progressive Party | 23,061 | 27.2 | 13 | +2 | 6 | 0 |
| People's Alliance | 12,929 | 15.2 | 5 | 0 | 2 | –1 |
| Social Democratic Party | 10,632 | 12.5 | 4 | –2 | 2 | 0 |
| National Preservation Party | 2,137 | 2.5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Invalid/blank votes | 1,359 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 86,147 | 100 | 35 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| Registered voters/turnout | 95,050 | 90.6 | – | – | – | – |
| Source: Nohlen & Stöver | ||||||
References
- Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p961 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
- Nohlen & Stöver, p976
- Renwick, Alan (2010). Helgason, Þorkell; Hermundardóttir, Friðný Ósk; Simonarson, Baldur (eds.). "Electoral System Change in Europe since 1945: Iceland" (PDF). Electoral system change since 1945. Archived from the original on 4 October 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2021.

