Despite the predictions, women did not become the majority in the Icelandic parliament

Although yesterday the international media, based on the preliminary results of the elections in Iceland, reported that women will form a majority in the country’s parliament for the first time, today this news was refuted as a result of the recount of the elections. Instead of the previously announced 52%, women will have 47.6% representation in Altig, Iceland.

The ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Catherine Jacobsdottir won the election (pictured). Her reputation in the country is very high, during the four years of her presidency she reformed the tax system, increased the budget for social housing, extended parental leave. In addition, Iceland overcame the coronavirus crisis without major losses. In a country of 370,000, 33 people died from COVID-19.

According to the preliminary results of the parliamentary elections, women won 33 of the 63 seats in the Icelandic parliament, which was 52% of the total number of deputies. However, the recount later revealed that women had only 30 seats (47.6%), meaning that despite the forecasts, Iceland did not become the first country in Europe with a majority of women.

At the same time, Iceland has long been a leader in gender equality and for the 12th year in a row, in the report of the World Economic Forum, it was recognized as the country with the most equal rights and privileges, which overcame gender imbalance by 89.2%. Iceland does not have a quota for women in parliament, but some parties have a voluntary requirement that a certain number of their candidates be women. The first law on equal pay for men and women was passed in Iceland in 1961. In 1980, Iceland became the first country in the world to elect a woman president. In Iceland, “women and men” are paid parental leave under the same rule.

According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, none of the European countries has exceeded the threshold of 50% of women in parliament, Sweden (47%) and Finland (46%) are closest to this figure.

In just three countries in the world, Rwanda, Cuba and Nicaragua, more women are in parliament than men, and in Mexico and the United Arab Emirates, 50/50 are represented in parliament.

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