electionstracker

Iceland October 1959 parliamentary election

What was the result of the October 1959 parliamentary election in Iceland?

Independence Party won 24 of 60 seats with 39.7% of the vote. 90.4% 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 24 of 60 seats with 39.7% of the vote; 90.4% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 0.3 points on 1959.

  • Independence Party 24 +4 seats 39.7% −2.8 points
  • Progressive Party 17 −2 seats 25.7% −1.5 points
  • People's Alliance 10 +3 seats 16.0% +0.8 points
  • Social Democratic Party 9 +3 seats 15.2% +2.7 points
  • National Preservation Party 0 0 seats 3.4% +0.9 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 June 1959 parliamentary election, party by party.

31 of 60 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 39.7%

    Share of the vote won by Independence Party

    Independence Party won 24 of 60 seats. A majority needs 31.

  2. +4 seats

    Seats gained by Independence Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1959. Progressive Party lost 2 seats.

  3. 90.4%

    Voter turnout

    Down 0.3 points on 1959.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Independence Party24+439.7−2.833,800
Progressive Party17−225.7−1.521,882
People's Alliancewith People's Unity Party – Socialist Party and Debating Society of Social Democrats10+316.0+0.813,621
Social Democratic Party9+315.2+2.712,909
National Preservation Party003.4+0.92,883

± is the change against the Iceland June 1959 parliamentary election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Independence Party 33,800
  • Progressive Party 21,882
  • People's Alliance 13,621
  • Social Democratic Party 12,909
  • National Preservation Party 2,883

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?

90.4% of the 95,637 registered voters cast a ballot (86,426 ballots), down 0.3 points on 1959. 85,095 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout since 1953 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Independence Party39.7% of votes40.0% of seats
  • Progressive Party25.7% of votes28.3% of seats
  • People's Alliance16.0% of votes16.7% of seats
  • Social Democratic Party15.2% of votes15.0% of seats
  • National Preservation Party3.4% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 3.1 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.7 by votes and 3.4 by seats; Independence Party led Progressive Party by 14.0 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of