Politician and co-founder of Iceland’s Pirate Party Birgitta Jonsdottir and Asta Gudrun Helgadottir react to the election results. Photo: HALLDOR KOLBEINS/AFP/Getty Images

If you take a look at Iceland’s newly elected parliament, you’ll notice something striking: Almost half of all the officials are women. During the weekend’s national elections, Icelandic voters elected 30 women to parliament — a record number.

The country is now at the top of the list of governments with a high percentage of representation by women. The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Iceland the “most equal Parliament in the world” without a quota system, according to NPR. That’s no measly achievement, of course. Female politicians only make up about 20 percent of Congress in the United States, while Nordic countries continue leading when it comes to electing women into government.



While voter turnout was a record low for Iceland (just under 80 percent), women have been making political statements in recent weeks. Thousands of women took to the streets on Women’s Day in protest of the ongoing gender pay gap in Iceland. The government has also pledged to close the gender pay gap by 2022. Sounds like progress. </s> Women Win 30 Seats In Iceland's Parliament — More Than Any Party

Enlarge this image toggle caption Frank Augstein/AP Frank Augstein/AP

If they were a political party, women would need only two more seats to form a majority government in Iceland, after winning a record 30 seats in this weekend's national elections. Voter turnout was just under 80 percent — local media say that's a record low for Iceland.

With female candidates winning nearly half (48 percent) of the 63 seats, Iceland now has the "most equal Parliament in the world" without a quota system, according to the country's Ministry for Foreign Affairs.

For comparison, in the U.S. women currently make up nearly 20 percent of Congress. Worldwide, Nordic countries lead the way in electing women to legislatures, with an average of more than 41 percent, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

Prime Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson — whose Progressive Party finished a distant fourth — resigned after the results became clear. Iceland now faces the daunting task of assembling a three-party coalition, six months after its political scene was thrown into chaos by revelations that Johannsson's predecessor had hidden millions of dollars in off-shore accounts while Iceland weathered a deep financial crisis.

One of the most famous female politicians in Iceland is Birgitta Jónsdóttir, whose Pirate Party more than tripled its seats. Like its namesakes in Sweden, Norway, and elsewhere, the four-year-old party stands for online freedoms, direct democracy and transparency. Ahead of Saturday's vote, the Pirates had captured both momentum and headlines. But the Pirates faded a bit at the finish, and their unique party platform could make the party a tough fit for a coalition government.

Iceland's Parliament is called the Althing, an anglicized form of the Alþingi. According to final election results quoted by Iceland Review, five parties drew support of more than 10 percent:

The Independence Party: 29 percent (21 seats)

The Left-Green Movement: 15.9 percent (10 seats)

The Pirate Party: 14.5 percent (10 seats)

The Progressive Party: 11.5 percent (8 seats)

The Reform Party: 10.5 percent (7 seats)

As the Two-Way's Scott Neuman reported when Iceland became the first country to elect Pirate Party MPs back in 2013, the new members of Parliament included "a WikiLeaks volunteer, a university student and a computer programmer."

The national vote comes six months after the Panama Papers — a database of millions of documents that detail secret financial dealings — sparked scandals in Iceland and other countries. Then-Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigned his post just days after information about off-shore tax accounts was made public.

While advocates for women's equality in Iceland will likely welcome Saturday's election results, they're still working on another common problem: gender pay equity. Last Monday, Icelandic unions and activists urged female workers to leave their jobs at 2:38 p.m. — to reflect the time after which they're working for free, when compared to their male counterparts. </s> Iceland holds a parliamentary election today.

Following are some election facts in a nutshell, most of them compiled by RÚV:

Most polling stations close at 10 pm, at which time the first results will be published.

There are 246,515 registered voters. That’s an increase of 8,780 since the last parliamentary election, in 2013. The number of men and women is about even.

Iceland is divided into six voting districts, each with its own number of members of parliament. They are the Northwest, Northeast, South and Southwest districts, in addition to Reykjavík South and Reykjavík North. Most MPs, or 13, come from the Southwest voting district, which consists of municipalities in the vicinity of Reykjavík. The Northwest district has the lowest number of MPs, or 8.

Twelve parties are on the ballot, nine of them running in all voter districts.

Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament, has sixty-three members, all of whom will be elected today.

At least 32 MPs are needed for parties to form a majority government. Based on recent polls, there is no chance a two-party government can be formed.

Voter turnout seems to be somewhat lower than in the 2013 parliamentary election. In 2013, the voter turnout was 81.5 percent, the lowest ever in a parliamentary election. </s> REYKJAVIK, Iceland — The radical Pirate Party made gains but not a breakthrough in Iceland's election, as returns Sunday showed that voters the incumbent -right Independence Party over the upstart advocates of direct democracy and digital freedom.

No party emerged with a majority of parliament seats from an election dominated by public discontent at the establishment after years of financial crisis and political turmoil.

With almost all votes from the balloting Saturday counted, the Independence Party had 29 support and the Pirate Party 14.5 , putting them in third place behind the Left-Green movement at 15.9 .

The result should give the Independence Party about 21 seats in Iceland's 63-seat Parliament, the Althingi, with the Left-Greens and Pirates winning 10 each.

It's a better performance than expected for the Independents, who have governed in coalition since 2013.

The Pirates' result fell short of what some polls had suggested — and what the party's fleet of energetic volunteers and supporters had hoped.

Like Spain's Podemos or the movement behind Bernie Sanders in the U.S. presidential race, it drew in throngs of mostly young supporters fed up with the status quo.

Pirate lawmaker Birgitta Jonsdottir said the results were in line with the party's own prediction of between 12 and 15 — up from the 5 it secured in 2013.

"We're just amazed that we'll possibly maybe triple our following from last time, and it's only three years," Jonsdottir said.

The election result looks set to trigger a period of intense political negotiations. It was not immediately clear whether the Independents had the support to assemble a coalition government with other parties of the and right.

"These are very positive indicators for us, we are leading in all constituencies, we are gaining new seats in Parliament, so we are very happy," he said.

The tax-avoidance scandal outraged many Icelanders, who suffered years of economic upheaval after the country's debt-swollen banks collapsed during the 2008 global financial crisis.

The chief victim of voters' wrath was Gunnlaugsson's Progressive Party, which lost more than half its seats in the Althingi.

New parties made gains among weary voters. A kingmaker in government negotiations could be Vidreisn, or Renewal, a liberal party formed this year that advocates Iceland joining the European Union. It will take about seven parliament seats.

The election was dominated by Iceland's economy — now recovering on the back of a tourism boom, with low unemployment and high growth — and voters' desire for political reform.

The Pirates campaigned on promises to introduce direct democracy, subject the workings of government to more scrutiny and place the country's natural resources under public ownership

The party also backs tough rules to protect individuals from online intrusion. Jonsdottir, the Pirates' most prominent voice, is a former ally of WikiLeaks who has called on Iceland to offer citizenship to U.S. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

A wind-lashed volcanic island near the Arctic Circle with a population of 320,000, Iceland has become known in recent years for large street protests that ousted one government after the 2008 financial crash and dispatched another in April. It also has strong Scandinavian policies in support of social equality and women's rights. </s> REYKJAVIK, Iceland — After stormy years for their country and amid stormy weather, Icelanders voted Saturday in a national election that offers a choice between continuity and many shades of change, with the radical Pirate Party seeking to unseat the centre-right government.

Founded four years ago by an assortment of hackers, political activists and Internet freedom advocates, the Pirate Party has made big gains among Icelanders fed up with established parties after years of financial turmoil and political scandal.

Polls suggest the Pirates are vying with the centre-right Independence Party to become the biggest group in the volcanic island nation’s parliament, the Althingi.

They currently hold just three of the 63 seats, and Pirate lawmaker Birgitta Jonsdottir said she could “never have fantasized or dreamed” about its current poll numbers.

“If people are ready, we are ready,” Jonsdottir said after casting her vote at a Reykjavik school on a blustery day.

The election was called after Prime Minister Sigmunder David Gunnlaugsson resigned in April amid public protests over his offshore holdings, revealed in the Panama Papers leak.

The tax-avoidance scandal outraged many Icelanders, who suffered years of economic upheaval after the country’s banks collapsed within a week of one another during the 2008 global financial crisis.

“If people are sick of living in this turmoil that we have been having here in Iceland, where you never know what tomorrow is going to bring,” they should put their trust in the Pirates, Jonsdottir said.

“Change is beautiful. There’s nothing to worry about,” she said. “We are ready to do whatever people trust us to do.”

Individual parties rarely win outright in Iceland’s multiparty system. Saturday’s vote is likely to produce either a centre-right coalition involving the Independence and Progressive parties that have governed since 2013, or a left-of-centre coalition involving the Pirates, the Left Green Movement and others.

A wind-lashed volcanic island near the Arctic Circle, Iceland has become known for large street protests that ousted one government after the 2008 financial crash and dispatched another in April. It also has strong policies in support of social equality and women’s rights.

But Icelanders — infused with a spirit of Viking self-sufficiency — also have a strong conservative streak that leads some to mistrust the Pirates.

“They’ll make chaos,” was the verdict of fishmonger Marselius Gundmundsson.

Another unpredictable factor is Vidreisn, or Revival, a new centre-right party founded by former Independence Party members that advocates Iceland joining the European Union. It is performing strongly among conservative voters seeking a change from the old parties.

“We want to improve things in Iceland,” said party leader Benedikt Johannesson. “We are a free-trade party, a pro-Western party, an open society party.”

Paul Fontaine, news editor of newsmagazine Reykjavik Grapevine, said the 2008 crisis and the wave of popular protest that followed “broke the mould” of Icelandic politics.

“Icelanders, like many Europeans and North Americans, have grown pretty weary of establishment politics, whether they’re on the left or the right,” he said. “I think that explains a large share of the Pirate Party’s support.”

The election debate has focused on the economy and voters’ desire for political reform.

The Pirates promise to introduce direct democracy, subject the workings of government to more scrutiny and place the country’s natural resources under public ownership.

The party also seeks tough rules to protect individuals from online intrusion. Jonsdottir, the Pirates’ most prominent voice, is a former ally of WikiLeaks who has called on Iceland to offer citizenship to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Opponents claim the inexperienced Pirates could scare off investors and destabilize an economy that is now recovering, with low unemployment and high growth.

“We’d rather be naive than corrupt,” Jonsdottir said.

The Pirates have no experience of government, and some voters seeking change say they are sticking with established parties like the Left Greens or the Social Democrats.

Gunnar Andresson, a teacher, said he sympathized with the Pirates but voted Social Democrat.

He said the Pirates “believe in a good cause, but I don’t think they are ready yet.”

Youth worker Birkir Vidarsson and his partner, Johanna Jonsdottir, decided to gamble on the Pirates.

“We are brought up with being afraid of new things,” Vidarsson said. “That’s very Icelandic.

“But with the Pirates being the second-biggest right now (in opinion polls) ... I think strategically it’s the right move.”

About 245,000 people are eligible to vote in the sparsely populated North Atlantic nation. Polls close at 10 p.m. (2200GMT), with partial results due early Sunday. </s> For wage equality, Iceland ranked fifth in the report, which said that globally, the average pay for women in 2017 was $12,000, compared with $21,000 for men. In Iceland, women earned 14 percent to 20 percent less than men, according to government figures for 2015.

In 2016, women accounted for 48 percent of the elected representatives in Iceland’s Parliament — although that proportion declined to 38 percent in the subsequent election. Men are offered parental leave equal to women, and women have risen through the ranks of government. Icelandic law since 2013 requires private companies with more than 50 employees to have at least 40 percent women — or men — on their executive board.

But gender pay gap issues have stubbornly persisted, breaking into full view with public protests in October 2016, when women left their jobs at 2:38 p.m., before the official end of the workday, but at the time that many calculated they stopped being paid for equal work.

Ms. Valdimarsdottir, an organizer of the demonstrations in 2016, said inequality still persisted in other areas of Icelandic society, such as wealth distribution and representation in the arts and literature, as well as in the upper echelons of business.

“We have come a long way and we are in the forefront of gender equality in the world,” she said. “But we are so far from having equality in Iceland.”

While Icelanders have generally celebrated the new law, one survey shows a difference between income brackets and professions. Forty-two percent of executives and senior officials oppose the law, while over all just 21 percent of Icelanders are against it, according to a survey conducted by Market and Media Research, an Icelandic company.

The law, experts say, will bring to light inequality that has until now surfaced only coincidentally, sometimes with unexpected consequences.

In 2013, Jofridur Hanna Sigfusdottir, a payroll clerk at a municipality office in Kopavogur in southwestern Iceland, filed a complaint to the government’s Complaints Committee on equal rights arguing that a male counterpart was a pay grade higher.

After the committee ruled in her favor, the municipality lowered the man’s wages to Ms. Sigfusdottir’s level.

“I went home crying,” she said in an interview. “I would have never gone forward with the case knowing it would only lead to my colleague receiving less.”

Halldor Benjamin Thorbergsson, manager of the Confederation of Icelandic Employers, a business association, who is one of the law’s critics, said the initiative created complications and additional expenses for all but big businesses.

“The law mandates smaller companies to collect records that are technically difficult to obtain,” he said.

While equal pay audits should be encouraged, he added, it should be left to businesses to decide whether to institute such measures.

Mr. Thorbergsson said he could not predict how broadly the law would affect employees in different industries. “I hope there will be change,” he said, adding that the law tackled more than gender-based pay gaps. “The law is about equal pay for equal work, between everyone.”

Thorgerdur Einarsdottir, a professor of gender studies at the University of Iceland, said the equal pay law was useful but was “no magic wand.”

“A law implementing a standardized job evaluation is not a solid fix to a problem this ambiguous,” she said. “The deeply rooted stereotypes that favor men and women for certain jobs and professions are the fundamental problem.” </s> Icelandic Prime Minister Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson has resigned after the opposition Pirate Party beat the ruling Progressive Party and came third in the country’s general election.

Johannsson made the announcement on national television, promising to leave his post after his center-right party received only eight seats against last year’s 19 in the 63-seat parliament following Saturday’s snap election.

“This was in accordance with the constitution, to hand in my resignation and then be asked to stay in office until a new government has been formed,” Johannsson told reporters.

Johannsson took office in April after his predecessor, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, was implicated in a tax-dodging scheme revealed in the Panama Papers scandal and was forced to quit.

The Independence Party, which has been in coalition with Johannsson’s party, came in first with 29 percent of votes and 21 seats in the Althing, Iceland’s parliament. The number of seats for the Independence Party has grown since the last elections, when it received 19 seats.

Polls had suggested that the Pirate Party was most likely to take the largest share of the vote, but it eventually ended third with 10 seats, behind the Left-Green Party, which also secured 10 seats in parliament.

The leader of the Pirate Party, Birgitta Jonsdottir, said she was happy with the election returns.

“Whatever happens, we have created a wave of change in Icelandic society,” she said early on Sunday morning.

The party, founded in 2012, is overwhelmingly supported by voters that are under 30 years old. It focuses on public transparency, institutional reform and individual freedoms, and takes a strong stance against corruption.

The four leftist parties, including the Social Democratic Alliance and Bright Future, won 27 seats in total, while 32 are required to obtain a majority in the Althing.

The liberal Regeneration Party has already rejected the idea of joining the coalition of the current ruling parties, which means it could possibly join the left-leaning parties that would then form a new ruling coalition.

The shift in political sentiment in Iceland is attributed by many to the Panama Papers leak – the revelations which led to what the media say were the largest anti-government protests in Iceland’s history – as well as the 2008 economic crisis. </s> REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) — The radical Pirate Party made gains but not a breakthrough in Iceland’s election, as returns Sunday showed that voters favored the incumbent center-right Independence Party over the upstart advocates of direct democracy and digital freedom.

No party emerged with a majority of parliament seats from an election dominated by public discontent at the establishment after years of financial crisis and political turmoil.

With almost all votes from the balloting Saturday counted, the Independence Party had 29 percent support and the Pirate Party 14.5 percent, putting them in third place behind the Left-Green movement at 15.9 percent.

The result should give the Independence Party about 21 seats in Iceland’s 63-seat Parliament, the Althingi, with the Left-Greens and Pirates winning 10 each.

It’s a better performance than expected for the Independents, who have governed in coalition since 2013.

The Pirates’ result fell short of what some polls had suggested — and what the party’s fleet of energetic volunteers and supporters had hoped.

Founded four years ago by an assortment of hackers, political activists and internet freedom advocates, the Pirate Party drew international attention as its support surged.

Like Spain’s Podemos or the movement behind Bernie Sanders in the U.S. presidential race, it drew in throngs of mostly young supporters fed up with the status quo.

Pirate lawmaker Birgitta Jonsdottir said the results were in line with the party’s own prediction of between 12 and 15 percent — up from the 5 percent it secured in 2013.

“We’re just amazed that we’ll possibly maybe triple our following from last time, and it’s only three years,” Jonsdottir said.

The election result looks set to trigger a period of intense political negotiations. It was not immediately clear whether the Independents had the support to assemble a coalition government with other parties of the center and right.

As early results came in overnight, Independence Party leader Bjarni Benediktsson said he was pleased.

“These are very positive indicators for us, we are leading in all constituencies, we are gaining new seats in Parliament, so we are very happy,” he said.

Saturday’s election was called after then-Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigned in April during public protests over his offshore holdings, revealed in the Panama Papers leak.

The tax-avoidance scandal outraged many Icelanders, who suffered years of economic upheaval after the country’s debt-swollen banks collapsed during the 2008 global financial crisis.

The chief victim of voters’ wrath was Gunnlaugsson’s Progressive Party, which lost more than half its seats in the Althingi.

New parties made gains among weary voters. A kingmaker in government negotiations could be Vidreisn, or Renewal, a liberal party formed this year that advocates Iceland joining the European Union. It will take about seven parliament seats.

The election was dominated by Iceland’s economy — now recovering on the back of a tourism boom, with low unemployment and high growth — and voters’ desire for political reform.

The Pirates campaigned on promises to introduce direct democracy, subject the workings of government to more scrutiny and place the country’s natural resources under public ownership

The party also backs tough rules to protect individuals from online intrusion. Jonsdottir, the Pirates’ most prominent voice, is a former ally of WikiLeaks who has called on Iceland to offer citizenship to U.S. National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Opponents argued that the inexperienced Pirates could scare off investors and destabilize the economy.

A wind-lashed volcanic island near the Arctic Circle with a population of 320,000, Iceland has become known in recent years for large street protests that ousted one government after the 2008 financial crash and dispatched another in April. It also has strong Scandinavian policies in support of social equality and women’s rights.

But Icelanders — infused with a spirit of Viking self-sufficiency — also have a strong conservative streak that led many to mistrust the Pirates and stick with the status quo.

As scores of Pirate supporters from Iceland and around the world watched the election results come in at a Reykjavik brewpub, the boisterous mood was tinged with disappointment.

“I’m really sad and I’m really disappointed in our young generation,” said 22-year-old student Bylgja Gudjonsdottir.

“This is our next generation that is taking the country to the next level. But they keep voting for the criminals we have here,” she said. </s> Heavy turnout at Kuwait polls as opposition returns

Kuwaitis turned out in large numbers Saturday for the first election contested by the opposition in nearly four years amid fresh disputes over cuts in subsidies due to falling oil revenues.

Turnout was high with some polling stations reporting that 80 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots by the time polls closed at 8 pm (1700 GMT), according to state-run Kuwait Television.

Vote counting started at some centres but final results are not expected before early Sunday.

Kuwaiti women flash their passports as they arrive to cast their votes at a polling station in Kuwait City on November 26, 2016 ©Yasser Al-Zayyat (AFP)

While Kuwait's two previous elections yielded poor turnout due to opposition boycotts, voters said they were encouraged by seeing their candidates running this time around.

"Their return is needed to strike a political balance in the country. They are more capable of monitoring the government actions," retired voter Ibrahim Al-Tulaihi told AFP at a polling station south of Kuwait City.

"A wise opposition is needed because we don't want more political disputes," Jarrah Mohammad, a government employee, said after casting his ballot.

Unusually for the oil-rich Gulf Arab states, Kuwait has an elected parliament with powers to hold ministers to account, even though senior members of the ruling Al-Sabah family hold all top cabinet posts.

The set-up has led to repeated standoffs between lawmakers and the ruling family and this is the seventh general election in a decade.

The election comes against a backdrop of discontent among Kuwaiti citizens over mounting cutbacks in the cradle-to-grave welfare system they have long enjoyed as a slump in world oil prices hits government revenues.

The emir dissolved the last parliament after MPs called for ministers to be grilled over the cuts to state subsidies.

Islamist opposition candidate Hamad al-Matar, a former MP, said he expects the opposition to win a good number of seats in the 50-member parliament to prevent the government from raising charges.

"There will be no charges on citizens because we have no problem with finances. We have a problem with government management and corruption," Matar told AFP.

The opposition is fielding 30 candidates among a total of 293 hopefuls, including 14 women.

"We want the next parliament to stop the government from hiking prices," said pensioner Maasouma Abdullah.

But others said they could accept a slight raise because of dwindling oil revenues.

"I think we should accept some reasonable raises but not on power and water. Oil revenues have dropped sharply and we should take measures," voter Jabr al-Jalahma told AFP.

- Bleak economic backdrop -

Opposition candidates campaigned heavily for economic and social reform and an end to what they charge is rampant corruption.

The election comes with Kuwait facing its most acute budget crisis in years. Oil income, which accounts for 95 percent of government revenues, has nosedived by 60 percent over the past two years.

Kuwait posted its first budget deficit of $15 billion last year following 16 years of surpluses.

And the emirate has fewer alternatives than its Gulf neighbours, partly because of its elected legislature, analysts say.

"It has built an economic model completely funded by oil and natural gas revenue to support its workforce, but with its empowered parliament it has less flexibility than any other state in the region to abandon that model," US-based intelligence firm Stratfor said in a recent report.

Kuwaiti citizens make up around 30 percent of the emirate's population of 4.4 million. A total of 483,000 are eligible to vote.

A Kuwaiti man writes on his ballot paper before casting his vote for the parliamentary elections at a polling station in Kuwait City on November 26, 2016 ©Yasser Al-Zayyat (AFP)
Icelandic voters elect 30 women to parliament, the most ever for the island nation. Voter turnout was under 80 percent, the lowest ever.