Sveitarstjórnarkosningar - 01.03.1993, Blaðsíða 31

Sveitarstjómarkosningar 1990
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Suffrage in local government elections has been extended
several times since 1930. Thus the voting age has been
lowered from 21 years in the elections held in 1930-1966, to
20 years in the period 1970-1982 and finally to 18 y ears since
the 1986 elections. The 1929 Act withheld the right to vote
from those who had been domiciled in the commune less than
one year before the election and from those who were
indebted to the commune for public assistance due to their
own laziness, intemperance or negligence. These limitations
were removed in 1936 and the Local Government Act of
1961 removed the condition of unblemished character. In
1982 citizens of other Nordic countries gained voting rights
in local government elections as explained above. In 1984
the deprivation of legal majority was removed as a hindrance
for the right to vote.
Absentee voting shall begin as soon as possible after
election day has been publicly announced, y et no sooner than
8 weeks before election day. Absentee votes can be cast at the
office of a town or county magistrate, at the office or home
of his representatives, on board an Icelandic ship under the
command of an Icelandic captain, provided the voter is a
registered crew member, and in Icelandic embassies,
permanant missions, consulates general, and honorary con-
sulates as decided by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs before
each election. Magistrates may conduct absentee voting at
hospitals, old age homes and homes for the disabled for
patients and inmates, and the same applies to prisons. Upon
request, the absentee voting officer can administer absentee
voting in a private home in the case of disease, disability or
childbirth. According to the General Elections Act the voter
no longer has to state a specific reason for absentee voting.
B. 1990 local government election statistics
Summary 1 gives an overview of the main indicators in
available statistics in local government elections from 1930
to 1990.
The number of voters on the electoral roll in the 1990
elections was 177,483 or almost 70 per cent of the population
and equally devided between men and women. This is an
increase of 8,455 or 5.0 per cent on the 1986 elections.
16,300 or 9.2 per cent of the voters were in the age group 18-
21 years, the group that had gained suffrage since the previ-
ous elections.
Participation in the elections was 82.0 per cent, almost the
same as in 1986. It is slightly higher for men than for women,
or 82.3 per cent against 81.5 per cent. Participation is higher
in communes with proportional voting, 82.7 per cent as
against75.2percentincommuneswithdirectvoting. 9.1 per
cent of the votes were absentee votes.
In the elections 126 communes with 7.3 per cent of the total
number of voters had direct voting while 78 communes with
92.7 per cent of the total had proportional voting. In these,
239 candidate lists were presented for election, including
ftve lists that were elected without a ballot as they were
unopposed in their respecti ve communes. Reykjavík had the
highest nurnber of candidate lists, seven.
The 239 candidate lists contained the names of 3,339
persons, 2,071 men and 1,268 women. Seven lists were
composed of men only and six by women only. Women
outnumbered men or were equal in number on 39 lists while
men outnumbered women on 187 lists.
Out of the total number of votes cast, 144,485, there were
2,914blank votes and455 were deemed void. Thus 141,116
valid votes were cast. In communes where the election is
proportional seats are allocated by employing the D’Hondt
method. Local government elections differ from general
elections in that the candidate lists are often non-party
political or joint lists of two or more parties. Comparison of
results between communes or between election years is
therefore difficult.
A total of 1,116 representatives were elected to local
government councils in 1990. Of these there were 873 men
and 243 women. In communes with proportional voting men
make up 72 per cent of the total number of representatives
while in communes with direct voting 84 per cent of the total
are men. Fromthe candidates in proportional elections 15.4
per cent were elected, 17.9 per cent of the male candidates
and 11.5 per cent of the female candidates. Wornen outnum-
ber men on eight councils while 58 councils are composed of
men only, 50 in communes with direct voting and 8 with
proportional voting.
The 40-44 year age group has the highest number of
elected council representatives. By the age of 60 very few are
elected, especially in the urban localities. The mean age of
representatives was 43.8 years.
Among the representatives elected in 1990, 59 per cent,
had also been elected in 1986 and/or 1982. This rate was 64
per cent for men and 41 per cent for women, while for
proportionally elected representatives the rate was 51 per
cent and 66 per cent for directly elected representatives. The
different rates for men and women are in part due to the fact
that between 1982 and 1990 the number of women on local
government councils rose by 95 while the number of men fell
by 171.
Of those who were elected in the 1986 local government
elections (1,180), 53 per cent were re-elected in 1990. This
rate is 55 per cent for men and 42 percent for women. Among
those elected in 1982, 31 per cent were re-elected in 1990.