Turnout: 80.10%
About this election
The Althing election of 25 September 2021 rewarded the stability of Katrín Jakobsdóttir's cross-spectrum government. The Independence Party again finished first with 24.39% and 16 seats, but the biggest winner was the Progressive Party, which surged to 17.27% and 13 seats — a gain of five. Together the three governing parties (Independence, Progressive and Left-Green) strengthened their combined majority to 37 of the 63 seats, and Katrín Jakobsdóttir continued as prime minister. The Left-Green Movement itself slipped to 8 seats and the Centre Party halved to 3. Turnout was 80.10%.
The 63 members were elected by open-list proportional representation in six constituencies — 54 constituency seats by D'Hondt plus 9 levelling seats for parties over 5%. A recount in the Northwest constituency briefly made headlines: initial results suggested Iceland had elected Europe's first female-majority parliament (33 of 63), but the recount reversed several seats and the final chamber had a narrow male majority.
Eight parties again won seats, and the election underlined that the old left–right axis had given way to a more fluid, eight-party system. The unusual feature of 2021 was that the governing coalition itself straddled that axis, so the campaign was less a contest between blocs than a referendum on whether an ideologically mixed government deserved a second term.
The government could point to a strong record: political stability after years of crisis, a well-regarded management of the COVID-19 pandemic, and steady economic recovery. Debate focused on the environment and the future of Iceland's untamed highlands, on health care and housing, and on whether the compromises required to hold the coalition together had blunted each party's identity.
The outcome was a rare event in modern Icelandic politics: a government returned to office with an increased majority, ending years of one-term administrations and snap elections. The Progressive Party's revival made it the pivotal winner, while the Left-Green Movement paid a price among its own voters for governing alongside the Independence Party.
After two months of talks the same three parties agreed to renew their coalition, and Katrín Jakobsdóttir began a second term on 28 November 2021. The distribution of ministries shifted somewhat toward the Progressives, reflecting their gains, but the basic left-right-centre architecture was preserved.
Turnout was 80.10%, broadly in line with recent Icelandic elections and high by international comparison, reflecting the country's strong civic engagement even in a campaign without a dramatic crisis.
The 2017 snap election had produced Katrín Jakobsdóttir's improbable cross-spectrum cabinet; the 2021 result validated it. Yet the coalition's internal tensions would eventually tell: it did not survive the full following term, collapsing in 2024 and triggering another early election.
For the first time in the period, the map was genuinely two-coloured. The Independence Party again led in the two Reykjavík constituencies, the Southwest and the South, but the resurgent Progressive Party topped the poll in both the Northwest and the Northeast, taking around 26% in each on the strength of its rural revival. The contest in the South was especially tight, with the Independence Party (24.6%) only narrowly ahead of the Progressives (23.9%). The pattern confirmed a long-running feature of Icelandic elections: the capital region leans toward the Independence Party and the parties of the left and liberal centre, while the agrarian Progressives draw their power from the sparsely populated north and west.
Eight parties won seats, but the balance among them shifted markedly. The Progressive Party's five-seat gain made it the clear victor in seats if not in vote share; the People's Party and Pirates held steady at six each; and Viðreisn edged up to five. The losers were the Left-Green Movement, worn down by four years in a compromising coalition, and the Centre Party, which halved its representation as Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson's populist momentum faded. The new Socialist Party fell just short of the 5% threshold, a near-miss that foreshadowed the volatility to come.
Figures from Statistics Iceland (Hagstofa Íslands) and the National Electoral Commission (landskjörstjórn). Constituency map: largest party by constituency (Reykjavík North and South shown combined).
The Independence Party again finished first with 24.4% and 16 seats. The three governing parties — Independence, Progressive and Left-Green — increased their combined majority to 37 of 63 seats, and Katrín Jakobsdóttir continued as prime minister for a second term.
Initial results suggested 33 of the 63 members were women — which would have been Europe's first female-majority parliament — but a recount in the Northwest constituency reversed several seats, leaving a narrow male majority.
The Progressive Party was the biggest winner, surging to 17.3% and 13 seats, a gain of five, while the Centre Party halved to 3 seats.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.