The final results of the parliamentary elections announced on Sunday said that there are more women than men in Iceland’s new parliament. This is the first in Europe.
Of the 63 seats in Althingi, 33 seats, or 52.3 percent, will be held by women, according to projections based on the final results. According to World Bank data, no country in Europe has crossed the symbolic 50 percent threshold. Sweden has led the way so far, with 47 percent of women deputies.
Globally, there are five other countries where parliaments are made up of at least half women: Rwanda (61 percent), Cuba (53 percent), Nicaragua (51 percent), Mexico and the United Arab Emirates (50 percent), according to the data. From the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).
Although many parties independently nominate a minimum number of female candidates, there is no law that mandates a quota for women in parliamentary elections in Iceland. Iceland was also the first country to democratically elect a female head of state in 1980.
The outgoing coalition government scored good results in Saturday’s elections. Prime Minister Catherine Jacobsdottir’s Green Left party has fared somewhat less well than in 2017. Its coalition partners, the conservative Independence Party and the agrarian liberal Progressive Party, are improving.
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