Reykjavík Grapevine - 18.05.2007, Blaðsíða 5

08_REYKJAVÍK_GRAPEVINE_ISSUE 06_007_POLITICS/ELECTIONS
The more things change, the more they stay
the same.
Or so it would seem, judging from the
recent Parliamentary elections in Iceland,
Saturday, May 12. Before the elections, the
right-centrist government coalition majority
of the Independence Party and the Progres-
sive party had been in a ruling position for
three consecutive terms, a total of 12 years.
The Independence Party had actually been a
member of the previous government coalition
as well, so they had 16 years of uninterrupted
government participation under their belt.
Leading up to the elections, the govern-
ment opposition had placed the focus of their
campaign on bringing the government’s reign
of power to an end. For the most parts, their
campaign was not so much focused on politi-
cal issues. Their efforts were mostly directed at
the Progressive Party, the smaller of the two
coalition parties with roughly 18% support
in the last elections. Looking back this might
be considered to have been a mistake on the
opposition’s part. A week before the election,
journalist and political analyst Arna Schram
said in an interview with the Grapevine:
“The remarkable thing about this campaign
is that there do not seem to be any issues
that stand apart, there is no single issue that
people are voting on in particular as opposed
to often before. I thought the environment
might be that issue, and their stand on the
environment has surely helped the Left-Greens,
but environmental issues still don’t seem to
capture the people.”
The opposition failed to engage people in
a political discussion on the future (or the next
4 years at least) of the country and thereby
missed their opportunity to control the dis-
course and capture the voters’ hearts and
minds.
Early Outlook
Election Day was sunny and bright, usually
not a good sign for voting turnout. There
were 221,368 voters registered and at the
end of the day, 183,547 of them had voted.
That is around an 83% turnout, one of the
lowest turnouts ever recorded in Iceland, a
nation that has always prided itself on strong
participation in elections.
When the first numbers from the count
were released at 10 pm, all signs pointed to
the government having lost their majority,
as the opposition held a majority of one in
the number of M.P.s. Leaders of the govern-
ment parties spoke cautiously, although they
sounded pessimistic.
At 12 pm, the next batch of votes had been
counted and new numbers were released. The
government was still in a minority, but the
Progressive party needed only 300 votes to
acquire one more representative at the expense
of the Social Democratic Alliance, the biggest
party of the opposition.
When the next numbers were released,
the situation had been turned on its head.
The government was back in the driver’s seat,
with the combined number of M.P.s from both
parties being 32 as opposed to 31 M.P.s from
the opposition; but it would only take 64 votes
to swing the situation again. For the rest of
the night, the two blocks, the government
and the opposition alternated holding the
majority. When I vacated my post in front of
the television to get some sleep around 4 pm,
the government was standing.
The Results
And that was the final outcome – the only
outcome that mattered at least. Of course
there were many ways to interpret the results
of the elections, but at the end of the day,
with every vote counted for, the government
was still in charge and nothing had changed
since the day before.
Of course that is not entirely true. The
Independence Party, the bigger of the two
government coalition parties, had received
36.6% of the votes, a sizeable addition since
the last election and enough to get them three
new M.P.s elected and 25 in total. If not for
the Left-Green Movement, who doubled their
vote tally (14.4%) and managed to get four
new members elected and a total of nine
M.P.s, the Independence Party might have
been considered the winners of the election.
The Liberal Party (which, turns out, is not
so liberal after all) more or less maintained
their number of votes and representatives
with four M.P.s. The Social Democratic Alliance
managed 26.8%, a decrease that cost them
two representatives in the Parliament giving
them 18 M.P.s. The Iceland Green Movement
received only 3.3%, which does not warrant
them a seat in Parliament under the current
legislation.
The smaller of the government coalition
parties however, The Progressive Party, suffered
a loss that can only be compared to Custer’s
last stand. Having faced diminishing interest
from voters in their political platform since
early last decade, the party only managed to
gather a paltry 11.7% of the votes and seven
representatives. The party’s chairman, Jón Sig-
urðsson, was not among the seven, despite
running number one in the Reykjavík’ North
district.
But, despite the Progressive Party’s big
loss, the government coalition still held the
majority, thanks to the increased votes for the
Independence Party.
Florida All Over Again
The real blow of this election was not delivered
to a party, but rather to democracy itself.
Due to the peculiarities of the Icelandic elector-
al system, the operating government coalition
at the time received a combined number of 32
M.P.s despite only being endorsed by 48% of
the nation. Meantime, the opposition parties
received a combined total of 52% of the votes,
but only 31 M.P.s. That is a 4% difference, a
huge number by all accounts.
Icelandic electoral legislation is not easily
explained, but the key behind this deficiency is
the enormous difference in population between
districts. The weight of the votes is skewed, so
that votes from more depopulated rural districts
actually weigh more than votes from larger dis-
tricts. That means that there are proportionately
fewer voters per M.P in the rural districts and
an M.P. from a large district, such as either of
Reykjavík’s districts, will need proportionately
more votes to get elected. In addition, each party
must receive at least 5% of the total votes to
be eligible for a seat in Parliament. This clearly
affected the Iceland Green Movement, which
received enough number of votes for two M.P.s,
if not for the 5% rule.
Obviously, this means there is no such
thing as ‘one man – one vote’ in Iceland. If
all votes counted equally in the elections, the
coalition would have received 30 M.P.s based
on the number of votes they received, while
the opposition would have received 33. If this
election revealed anything, it is the need for
electoral legislation reform in this country. A
government majority that is not supported by
a majority of the people in a popular election
can hardly be considered a government of the
people.
Epilouge
An hour before this issue was shipped to print-
ing on Thursday, May 17; the coalition parties
had come to their senses after five taking
five days to consider their alternatives and
announced their decision to part ways. In a
government with a majority of one, every
single member of the government coalition
effectively holds a veto power on any legisla-
tion, which makes it very unstable. Leader of
the Independence Party and Prime Minister
Geir H. Haarde said: “We are not interested
in being in government, just to be in govern-
ment. A one vote majority is simply not secure
enough.”
Haarde announced that he would prob-
ably initiate talks with the Social Democratic
Party to form a new coalition. Whether those
negotiations will be fruitful remains to be seen.
If the two parties will manage to reach an
agreement on cooperation, that government
would be supported by 63.4% of the nation.
Perhaps there is a chance for democracy after
all.
A Loss for Democracy
Text by Sveinn Birkir Björnsson Photo by Skari
If this election revealed
anything, it is the need
for electoral legislation
reform in this country.
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