People's Alliance (Iceland)
People's Alliance Alþýðubandalagið | |
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The People's Alliance (
History
In 1916, the
On April 4, 1956 the Socialist Party created an electoral alliance with yet another left-wing split of the Social Democratic Party led by Hannibal Valdimarsson, thus forming the People's Alliance with Hannibal as its chairman.
In 1963 National Preservation Party (Þjóðvarnarflokkurinn) contributed people to the joint electoral alliance, resulting in Gils Guðmundsson, a former member of parliament (1953–1956) for Þjóðvarnarflokkurinn gaining a seat in the parliament, which he held until 1979. In 1968 the People's Alliance officially became a political party. At that time Hannibal left and formed his own Union of Liberals and Leftists.
In the mid 1960s the U.S. States Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 1,000 (1% of the working age population of Iceland).[9]
In 1998 it joined forces with the Social Democrat Party, the Women's Alliance (Samtök um kvennalista) and the National Awakening (Þjóðvaki) in forming the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin), a broad centre-left party. However the People's Alliance continues to exist on papers until its debts are paid.
The party was not a communist party, but it used to be the Icelandic referent of the
Some members of the People's Alliance did not conciliate the forming of the Alliance, including some
It participated in 5 coalition governments from 1956 to 1991, beginning in Hermann Jónasson's last government 1956–1958, then in both of Ólafur Jóhannesson's governments 1in 1971–1974 and in 1978–1979, then in Gunnar Thoroddsen's only government 1980–1983 and finally in Steingrímur Hermannsson's latter government in 1988–1991.
The youth league of the People's Alliance was known as ÆFAB.
Election results
Election | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | Position | Government |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1956 | 15,859 | 19.2 | 8 / 52
|
8 | 4th | Coalition |
1959 (Jun) | 12,929 | 15.2 | 6 / 52
|
2 | 3rd | Opposition |
1959 (Oct) | 13,621 | 16.0 | 10 / 60
|
4 | 3rd | Opposition |
1963 | 14,274 | 16.0 | 9 / 60
|
1 | 3rd | Opposition |
1967 | 16,923 | 17.6 | 10 / 60
|
1 | 3rd | Opposition |
1971 | 18,055 | 17.1 | 10 / 60
|
0 | 3rd | Coalition |
1974 | 20,924 | 18.3 | 11 / 60
|
1 | 3rd | Opposition |
1978 | 27,952 | 22.9 | 14 / 60
|
3 | 2nd | Coalition |
1979 | 24,401 | 19.7 | 11 / 60
|
3 | 3rd | Opposition |
1983 | 22,490 | 17.3 | 10 / 60
|
1 | 3rd | Opposition |
1987 | 20,387 | 13.3 | 8 / 63
|
2 | 4th | Opposition |
1991 | 22,706 | 14.4 | 9 / 63
|
1 | 4th | Opposition |
1995 | 23,597 | 14.3 | 9 / 63
|
0 | 3rd | Opposition |
Chairpersons
Chairperson | Period |
---|---|
Hannibal Valdimarsson | 1956–1968 |
Ragnar Arnalds | 1968–1977 |
Lúdvik Jósepsson |
1977–1980 |
Svavar Gestsson | 1980–1987 |
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson | 1987–1995 |
Margrét Frímannsdóttir | 1995–1998 |
Sources
- Hannes H. Gissurarson: Communism in Iceland, 1918–1998 Social Science Research Institute at the University of Iceland, Reykjavik 2021.
References
- ISBN 978-82-00-12799-4.
- .
- ^ Peter Sedgwick. "Eurocommunism". London Review of Books.
- ISSN 2195-6502.
- ISBN 9781136578977.
- ISBN 9781551303260.
- ^ Schneier, Edward (1992). "Icelandic Women on the Brink of Power". Scandinavian Studies. 64 (3): 417–438.
- ^ Arnason, Gudmundur (1988). "Fluidity in Icelandic politics ‐ the election of April 1987". West European Politics. 11 (1): 122–125.
- ^ Benjamin, Roger W.; Kautsky, John H.. Communism and Economic Development, in The American Political Science Review, Vol. 62, No. 1. (Mar., 1968), pp. 122.