Iceland’s conservative governing coalition held on to its majority in parliament by a single seat in general elections, according to final results released Sunday.
Prime Minister Geir Haarde’s conservative Independence Party won the most seats in Saturday’s elections, with 25 lawmakers elected, an increase of three since the last elections in 2003.
His party won 36.6 percent of the overall vote. Turnout was 83.9 percent.
“The Independence Party has won a great victory in these elections and that the voters are demanding that we head a government,” Haarde said.
The smaller coalition partner, the Progressive Party, won a total of seven seats _ a loss of five. Two of the party’s ministers lost their seats and its new leader was not elected to parliament.
It was not immediately clear if the ruling coalition would try to govern with a razor-thin majority in the 63-seat parliament or whether the Independence Party would start talks with other parties to form a new, stronger coalition.
Haarde said he would consult with Progressive Party leader Jon Sigurdsson about their coalition’s future.
Sigurdsson said it would be up to his party to decide whether he would stay on as head of the party after a disappointing showing.
The Social Democrats, the largest opposition party, got 26.8 percent of the overall vote and had 18 lawmakers elected _ a loss of two. Their leader, Ingiborg Solrun Gisladottir, had hoped to become her country’s first female prime minister.
The election was dominated by debate over the pace of industrial development in the nation of 300,000 people. Haarde’s party wants aluminum companies to continue building aluminum smelters to drive the economy forward. The opposition parties, however, demanded a moratorium on new smelters because of environmental concerns.
The debate led to a strong showing by the Green Party, which showed the strongest gains. It won 14.3 percent of the popular vote and increased its presence in parliament to nine lawmakers, up five from the previous election.
Haarde’s Independent Party has dominated politics since Iceland declared full independence from Denmark in 1944.
