electionstracker

Iceland 1978 parliamentary election

What was the result of the 1978 parliamentary election in Iceland?

Independence Party won 20 of 60 seats with 32.7% of the vote. 90.3% 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 20 of 60 seats with 32.7% of the vote; 90.3% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 1.2 points on 1974.

  • Independence Party 20 −5 seats 32.7% −10.0 points
  • People's Alliance 14 +3 seats 22.9% +4.6 points
  • Social Democratic Party 14 +9 seats 22.0% +12.9 points
  • Progressive Party 12 −5 seats 16.9% −8.0 points
  • Union of Liberals and Leftists 0 −2 seats 3.3% −1.3 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 1974 parliamentary election, party by party.

31 of 60 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 32.7%

    Share of the vote won by Independence Party

    Independence Party won 20 of 60 seats. A majority needs 31.

  2. +9 seats

    Seats gained by Social Democratic Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1974. Independence Party lost 5 seats.

  3. 90.3%

    Voter turnout

    Down 1.2 points on 1974.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Independence Party20−532.7−10.039,982
People's Alliance14+322.9+4.627,952
Social Democratic Party14+922.0+12.926,912
Progressive Party12−516.9−8.020,656
Union of Liberals and Leftists0−23.3−1.34,073

± is the change against the Iceland 1974 parliamentary election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Independence Party 39,982
  • People's Alliance 27,952
  • Social Democratic Party 26,912
  • Progressive Party 20,656
  • Union of Liberals and Leftists 4,073

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.

How many people voted?

90.3% of the 137,782 registered voters cast a ballot (124,377 ballots), down 1.2 points on 1974. 122,207 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout since 1953 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Independence Party32.7% of votes33.3% of seats
  • People's Alliance22.9% of votes23.3% of seats
  • Social Democratic Party22.0% of votes23.3% of seats
  • Progressive Party16.9% of votes20.0% of seats
  • Union of Liberals and Leftists3.3% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 3.4 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 4.2 by votes and 3.8 by seats; Independence Party led People's Alliance by 9.8 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of