1953 Icelandic parliamentary election

Parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 28 June 1953.[1] The Independence Party remained the largest party in the Lower House of the Althing, winning 14 of the 35 seats.[2]

1953 Icelandic parliamentary election
Iceland
← 1949 28 June 1953 1956 →

All 35 seats in the Lower House
and 17 seats in the Upper House of Althing
Turnout89.90%
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/–
Upper House
Independence Ólafur Thors 37.12 7 +1
Progressive Hermann Jónasson 21.91 6 0
Socialist Einar Olgeirsson 16.05 2 −1
Social Democratic Hannibal Valdimarsson 15.62 2 0
Lower House
Independence Ólafur Thors 37.12 14 +1
Progressive Hermann Jónasson 21.91 10 −1
Socialist Einar Olgeirsson 16.05 5 −1
Social Democratic Hannibal Valdimarsson 15.62 4 −1
National Preservation Gils Guðmundsson 6.03 2 New
This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.
Prime Minister before Prime Minister after
Steingrímur Steinþórsson
Progressive
Ólafur Thors
Independence

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 Party28,73837.1214+17+1
Progressive Party16,95921.9110–160
People's Unity Party – Socialist Party12,42216.055–12–1
Social Democratic Party12,09315.624–120
National Preservation Party4,6676.032New0New
Republican Party2,5313.270New0New
Total77,410100.00350170
Valid votes77,41098.29
Invalid/blank votes1,3441.71
Total votes78,754100.00
Registered voters/turnout87,60189.90
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.