Iceland’s Pirates top polls as primaries get under way

From the Pirates' general meeting in June.

From the Pirates' general meeting in June. Photo: Iceland Monitor/Eggert Jóhannesson

Primary elections for Pirate candidates in Iceland’s upcoming general election got under way yesterday, as polls continue to suggest that over one in four Icelanders intend to vote for them.

431 party members will be voting electronically until midnight on 11 August to determine the order of candidates on the Pirate’s electoral list. Early general elections are expected in Iceland this autumn , though no specific date has yet been set.

MORE: Politics in Iceland: A beginner’s guide

With just three MPs in Iceland’s current parliament, support for the Pirate party in Iceland rocketed from 13% to 30% in the space of nine weeks in February-April 2015.

63 seats are up for grabs in Iceland's parliament, Alþingi.

63 seats are up for grabs in Iceland's parliament, Alþingi. Photo: Iceland Monitor/Ómar Óskarsson

They peaked at 38.6% in February this year, and have been Iceland’s most popular political party for an almost unbroken period of seventeen months (all figures: MMR).

MORE: Iceland’s Pirates to contest elections across the country

People who have been a member of the Pirate Party for at least thirty days are eligible to vote in elections and over 100 potential candidates have come forward for the constituencies of Greater Reykjavik and South Iceland.

According to the last MMR opinion poll (below), the Pirates could get somewhere in the region of 18-20 MPs in the next election – compared to just three currently – and be in a commanding position to try and form a government.

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