Icelanders seem eager to support new parties running at the next parliamentary elections, scheduled in 2013. According to a new survey conducted by Fréttablaðið and Stöð 2, more than 30 percent of respondents intend to vote for new political parties.
Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament. Photo by Páll Stefánsson.
The survey indicates that Samstaða (“Solidarity”), the latest of the new parties, which is chaired by former Left-Green MP Lilja Mósesdóttir, would receive 21.3 percent of votes and 14 seats in parliaments if elections were held today, visir.is reports.
Samstaða is thus the country’s second-largest party after the Independence Party which 35 percent of respondents said they would vote for, resulting in 24 seats in parliament, up from the current 16.
According to the survey, another opposition party, the Progressive Party, comes third with 12.5 percent of votes. However, their seats in parliament would still decrease, from nine to eight.
Support for the winner of the last election in 2009, the Social Democratic Alliance, measured 12.3 percent, which would result in eight seats in parliament, down from the current 20.
Eight percent of respondents said they would vote for the other coalition party, the Left-Green Movement, reducing its number of seats in parliament from 12 to five.
Another new party, Björt framtíð (“Bright Future”), chaired by former Progressive Party MP Guðmundur Steingrímsson, follows with 6.1 percent of votes as indicated in the survey, which would result in four seats in parliament.
Support for the other two new parties and the third opposition party, The Movement, which currently has three seats in parliament, would get less than two percent of the electorate and thus no MPs.
The Movement is currently working on establishing a new political party along with the Civic Movement, the Liberal Party and various grass root organizations.
The survey was carried out on Wednesday and Thursday evening this week when 800 voters were called at random. However, only 52.9 percent responded to the question which political party they would vote for if parliamentary elections were held today.
Because of the low response rate, the results of the survey should be taken provisionally.
Click here to read more about Samstaða and other new parties.
ESA
