Iceland election LATEST: seven parties set to return MPs
The latest opinion polls for Iceland’s upcoming general elections continue to give mixed messages as regards which party is likely to secure first place.
Two news polls – dated yesterday and today, and carried out by Fréttablaðið/Stöð 2/Vísir – put either the centre-right Independence Party (‘Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn’) or the open-democracy Pirate Party (‘Píratar’) at the top of the pile.
Yesterday’s survey forecasts a convincing victory for the centre-right Independence Party (‘Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn’).
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The Independence Party has been neck-and-neck with the Pirate Party in several recent polls, but showed an almost eight-point lead yesterday. Today’s poll has the two parties back on a level footing.
At the other end of the table, the other novelty is the Bright Future Party, who have for some time been polling at round 3-4% – under the 5% threshold needed to return an MP to Iceland’s national parliament Alþingi.
Bright Future polls at 5.3% and 8.2% in these new polls and would therefore become the seventh party to have parliamentary representation after the elections.
Icelanders go to the polls on Saturday 29 October to elect a new legislative assembly.