Social Democrats win and incumbents punished in Icelandic elections

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Icelandic voters appear to have rejected the incumbent parties in a parliamentary electionPartial results were released on Sunday, with a center-left party leading the poll in the North Atlantic island nation.

With more than half of the votes counted, the Social Democratic Alliance won 15 seats out of the 63 seats in the parliament, the Althingi, and obtained more than 21% of the vote, according to national television channel RUV. The conservative Independence Party had 14 seats and just under 20% of the vote, and the centrist Reform Liberal Party had 11 seats and 16% of the vote.

Icelanders voted on Saturday after disagreements over immigration, energy policy and the economy forced Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson to end his coalition government and call early elections.

Counting was delayed in some areas due to snowstorms that blocked roads and slowed the delivery of ballot boxes to counting centers.

Since the 2008 financial crisis devastated the economy and ushered in a new era of political instability, Iceland has been governed by multi-party coalitions of different stripes.

Like many Western countries, Iceland has been rocked by rising costs of living and pressure from immigration, and voters are lashing out at existing governments. Benediktsson’s Independence Party and its coalition partners in the outgoing government, the Progressive Party and the left-wing Greens, all appear to have lost votes.

Iceland, a volcanic island nation nestled below the Arctic Circle with a population of less than 400,000, is proud of its democratic traditions. The Althingi, founded in 930 by Viking settlers, is arguably the oldest legislature in the world.