October 1942 Icelandic parliamentary election

October 1942 Icelandic parliamentary election

18 and 19 October 1942
All 35 seats in the Lower House and 17 seats in the Upper House of Althing
Turnout	82.35%
Party Leader Vote % Seats +/– Upper House Independence Ólafur Thors 38.55 7 +1 Progressive Jónas frá Hriflu 26.60 5 −1 Socialist Einar Olgeirsson 18.53 3 +1 Social Democratic Stefán Jóhann Stefánsson 14.17 2 0 Lower House Independence Ólafur Thors 38.55 13 +2 Progressive Jónas frá Hriflu 26.60 10 −4 Socialist Einar Olgeirsson 18.53 7 +3 Social Democratic Stefán Jóhann Stefánsson 14.17 5 +1 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. Prime Minister before Prime Minister after Ólafur Thors Independence Ólafur Thors Independence

Early parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 18 and 19 October 1942. They were held after reforms were made to the electoral system following the July elections. The Independence Party emerged as the largest party in the Lower House of the Althing, winning 13 of the 35 seats.

Electoral reform

In the previous two elections in 1937 and July 1942 the Independence Party had received the most votes, yet had received fewer seats than the Progressive Party, which had received more than 10% less of the vote. However, following the July elections election, changes were made to the electoral system that reduced the over-representation of the Progressive Party. This involved introducing proportional representation to the two six-member constituencies and increasing the number of seats in Reykjavík where PR was already in use, lowering its effective threshold from 11.3% to 8.7%.

Whilst both parties received a similar number of votes as in July (the IP increased their vote tally by just 26, whilst the PP lost 164 votes), the Independence Party won two extra seats in the Lower House, whilst the Progressive Party lost four.

Results

Party		Votes	%	Seats
				Lower House	+/–	Upper House	+/–
	Independence Party	23,001	38.55	13	+2	7	+1
	Progressive Party	15,869	26.60	10	–4	5	–1
	People's Unity Party – Socialist Party	11,059	18.53	7	+3	3	+1
	Social Democratic Party	8,455	14.17	5	+1	2	0
	Commonwealth Party	1,284	2.15	0	0	0	0
Total		59,668	100.00	35	+2	17	+1
Valid votes		59,668	98.50
Invalid/blank votes		908	1.50
Total votes		60,576	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		73,560	82.35
Source: Nohlen & Stöver