electionstracker

Iceland 1956 parliamentary election

What was the result of the 1956 parliamentary election in Iceland?

Independence Party won 19 of 52 seats with 42.4% of the vote. 92.1% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Iceland
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : Independence Party won 19 of 52 seats with 42.4% of the vote; 92.1% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 2.2 points on 1953.

  • Independence Party 19 −2 seats 42.4% +5.3 points
  • People's Alliance 8 19.2%
  • Social Democratic Party 8 +2 seats 18.3% +2.7 points
  • Progressive Party 17 +1 seat 15.6% −6.3 points
  • National Preservation Party 0 −2 seats 4.5% −1.5 points
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the Iceland 1953 parliamentary election, party by party.

27 of 52 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 42.4%

    Share of the vote won by Independence Party

    Independence Party won 19 of 52 seats. A majority needs 27.

  2. +2 seats

    Seats gained by Social Democratic Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1953. Independence Party lost 2 seats.

  3. 92.1%

    Voter turnout

    Up 2.2 points on 1953.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Independence Party19−242.4+5.335,027
People's Alliancewith Debating Society of Social Democrats and People's Unity Party – Socialist Party819.215,859
Social Democratic Party8+218.3+2.715,153
Progressive Party17+115.6−6.312,925
National Preservation Party0−24.5−1.53,706

± is the change against the Iceland 1953 parliamentary election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Independence Party 35,027
  • People's Alliance 15,859
  • Social Democratic Party 15,153
  • Progressive Party 12,925
  • National Preservation Party 3,706

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

ParlGov counts an alliance's votes and seats under its first party: such a row names the allies it counts.

How many people voted?

92.1% of the 91,618 registered voters cast a ballot (84,355 ballots), up 2.2 points on 1953. 82,678 of them were valid votes. The highest turnout of this kind in our data, which begins in 1946.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Independence Party42.4% of votes36.5% of seats
  • Progressive Party15.6% of votes32.7% of seats
  • People's Alliance19.2% of votes15.4% of seats
  • Social Democratic Party18.3% of votes15.4% of seats
  • National Preservation Party4.5% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 13.6 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.6 by votes and 3.5 by seats; Independence Party led People's Alliance by 23.2 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of