1956 Icelandic parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 24 June 1956.[1] The Independence Party remained the largest party in the Lower House of the Althing, winning 13 of the 35 seats.[2]

1956 Icelandic parliamentary election
Iceland
← 1953 24 June 1956 June 1959 →

All 35 seats in the Lower House
and 17 seats in the Upper House of Althing
Turnout92.07%
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
Upper House
Independence Ólafur Thors 42.37 6 −1
People's Alliance Hannibal Valdimarsson 19.18 3 New
Social Democratic Haraldur Guðmundsson 18.33 2 0
Progressive Hermann Jónasson 15.63 6 0
Lower House
Independence Ólafur Thors 42.37 13 −1
People's Alliance Hannibal Valdimarsson 19.18 5 New
Social Democratic Haraldur Guðmundsson 18.33 6 +2
Progressive Hermann Jónasson 15.63 11 +1
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Ólafur Thors
Independence
Hermann Jónasson
Progressive

Electoral system

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The elections were conducted under rural–urban proportional representation. Twenty-one members were elected in single-member constituencies via first-past-the-post voting, while the remainder were elected using D'Hondt method proportional representation: twelve members in two-member constituencies, eight members in Reykjavík, and eleven from a single national compensatory list. To earn national list seats, a party had to win at least one constituency seat. In constituencies electing two or more members, within the party list, voters had the option to re-rank the candidates and could also strike a candidate out. Allocation of seats to candidates was done using a system based on the Borda count.[3]

Results

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PartyVotes%Seats
Lower
House
+/–Upper
House
+/–
Independence Party35,02742.3713–16–1
People's Alliance15,85919.18503+1
Social Democratic Party15,15318.336+220
Progressive Party12,92515.6311+160
National Preservation Party3,7064.480–200
Independents80.010New0New
Total82,678100.00350170
Valid votes82,67898.01
Invalid/blank votes1,6771.99
Total votes84,355100.00
Registered voters/turnout91,61892.07
Source: Nohlen & Stöver

References

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  1. ^ Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p961 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
  2. ^ Nohlen & Stöver, p976
  3. ^ Renwick, Alan (2010). Helgason, Þorkell; Hermundardóttir, Friðný Ósk; Simonarson, Baldur (eds.). "Electoral System Change in Europe since 1945: Iceland" (PDF). Electoral system change since 1945. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 October 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2021.