The (; , anglicised as Althing or Althingi), is the national legislature of Iceland, which is also known in the English language as the Icelandic Parliament or as the Parliament of Iceland. Established in 930, it is the oldest legislature in the world.
The original Althing was founded in 930 at ('thing fields' or 'assembly fields', anglicised as Thingvellir), about east of what later became the country's capital, Reykjavík. The present parliament building, the , was built in 1881 of hewn Icelandic stone. The unicameral parliament has 63 members, and is elected every four years based on party-list proportional representation. Þórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir became speaker of the Althing in February 2025.
After Iceland's union with Norway in 1262, the Althing lost its legislative power, The restored unicameral legislature first came together in 1845, and after 1874 operated in two chambers with an additional third chamber taking on a greater role as the decades passed, until 1991, when Althing became once again unicameral.
The constitution of Iceland provides for six electoral constituencies with the possibility of an increase to seven. The constituency boundaries and the number of seats allocated to each constituency are fixed by legislation. No constituency can be represented by fewer than six seats. Furthermore, each party with more than 5% of the national vote is allocated seats based on its proportion of the national vote in order that the number of members in parliament for each political party should be more or less proportional to its overall electoral support. If the number of voters represented by each member of the Althing in one constituency would be less than half of the comparable ratio in another constituency, the Icelandic National Electoral Commission is tasked with altering the allocation of seats to reduce the difference.
Historical background
Foundation: 930–1262
upright=1.45|left|thumb|19th-century rendering of the [[Lögberg|Law Rock in Þingvellir]]
The Althing claims to be the longest-running parliament in the world. His responsibilities included reciting aloud the laws in effect at the time. It was his duty to proclaim the procedural law of the Althing to those attending the assembly each year.
The Gulathing Law was adopted in 930 at the first Althing, introduced by , who had spent three years in Norway studying their laws. The Icelandic laws conferred a privileged status on the Danes, Swedes and Norwegians.
According to , the Althing declared Christianity as the official religion in 1000. The outbreak of warfare in Denmark and Norway prompted , a pagan and chieftain of the Althing, to propose "one law and one religion" to rule over the whole of Iceland, making baptism and conversion to Christianity required by law. Six elected members and the six appointed ones sat in the upper chamber, which meant that the latter could prevent legislation from being passed by acting as a bloc. Twenty-four elected representatives sat in the lower chamber. From 1874 until 1915 ad hoc committees were appointed. After 1915 seven standing committees were elected by each of the chambers. Regular sessions of the Althing convened every other year. A supplementary session was first held in 1886, and these became more frequent in the 20th century. The Althing met from 1881 in the newly built Parliament House. The Governor-General (landshöfðingi) was the highest representative of the government in Iceland and was responsible to the Advisor for Iceland (Íslandsráðgjafi) in Copenhagen.
Results of 2024 general election
Historical composition
Republic of Iceland (Since 1944)
{| class="wikitable" width="100%" style="border:solid #000000 1px;font-size:95%;"
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| width="50" | 1946
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 19.23%"|10
| style="background-color: ; width: 17.31%"| 9
| style="background-color: ; width: 25.00%"|13
| style="background-color: ; width: 38.46%"|20
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| 1949
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 17.31%"| 9
| style="background-color: ; width: 13.46%"| 7
| style="background-color: ; width: 32.69%"|17
| style="background-color: ; width: 36.54%"|19
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| 1953
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 13.46%"| 7
| style="background-color: ; width: 11.54%"| 6
| style="background-color: #808080; width: 3.85%"| 2
| style="background-color: ; width: 30.77%"|16
| style="background-color: ; width: 40.38%"|21
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| 1956
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 15.38%"| 8
| style="background-color: ; width: 15.38%"| 8
| style="background-color: ; width: 32.69%"|17
| style="background-color: ; width: 36.54%"|19
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| 1959.06
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 13.46%"| 7
| style="background-color: ; width: 11.54%"| 6
| style="background-color: ; width: 36.54%"|19
| style="background-color: ; width: 38.46%"|20
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| 1959.10
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 16.67%"|10
| style="background-color: ; width: 15.00%"| 9
| style="background-color: ; width: 28.33%"|17
| style="background-color: ; width: 40.00%"|24
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| 1963
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 15.00%"| 9
| style="background-color: ; width: 13.33%"| 8
| style="background-color: ; width: 31.67%"|19
| style="background-color: ; width: 40.00%"|24
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| 1967
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 16.67%"|10
| style="background-color: ; width: 15.00%"| 9
| style="background-color: ; width: 30.00%"|18
| style="background-color: ; width: 38.33%"|23
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| 1971
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 16.67%"|10
| style="background-color: ; width: 10.00%"| 6
| style="background-color: ; width: 8.33%"| 5
| style="background-color: ; width: 28.33%"|17
| style="background-color: ; width: 36.67%"|22
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| 1974
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 18.33%"|11
| style="background-color: ; width: 8.33%"| 5
| style="background-color: ; width: 3.33%"| 2
| style="background-color: ; width: 28.33%"|17
| style="background-color: ; width: 41.67%"|25
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| 1978
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 23.33%"|14
| style="background-color: ; width: 23.33%"|14
| style="background-color: ; width: 20.00%"|12
| style="background-color: ; width: 33.33%"|20
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| 1979
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 18.33%"|11
| style="background-color: ; width: 16.67%"|10
| style="background-color: #808080; width: 1.67%"| 1
| style="background-color: ; width: 28.33%"|17
| style="background-color: ; width: 35.00%"|21
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| 1983
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 16.67%"|10
| style="background-color: ; width: 10.00%"| 6
| style="background-color: ; width: 6.67%"| 4
| style="background-color: ; width: 5.00%"| 3
| style="background-color: ; width: 23.33%"|14
| style="background-color: ; width: 38.33%"|23
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| 1987
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 12.70%"| 8
| style="background-color: ; width: 15.87%"|10
| style="background-color: ; width: 9.52%"| 6
| style="background-color: #808080; width: 1.59%"| 1
| style="background-color: ; width: 19.40%"|13
| style="background-color: ; width: 26.87%"|18
| style="background-color: ; width: 11.11%"| 7
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| 1991
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 14.29%"| 9
| style="background-color: ; width: 15.87%"|10
| style="background-color: ; width: 7.94%"| 5
| style="background-color: ; width: 19.40%"|13
| style="background-color: ; width: 41.27%"|26
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| 1995
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 14.29%"| 9
| style="background-color: ; width: 11.11%"| 7
| style="background-color: ; width: 4.76%"| 3
| style="background-color: ; width: 6.35%"| 4
| style="background-color: ; width: 23.81%"|15
| style="background-color: ; width: 39.68%"|25
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| 1999
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 9.52%"| 6
| style="background-color: ; width: 26.98%"|17
| style="background-color: ; width: 3.17%"| 2
| style="background-color: ; width: 19.05%"|12
| style="background-color: ; width: 41.27%"|26
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| 2003
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 7.94%"| 5
| style="background-color: ; width: 31.75%"|20
| style="background-color: ; width: 6.35%"| 4
| style="background-color: ; width: 19.05%"|12
| style="background-color: ; width: 34.92%"|22
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| 2007
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 14.29%"| 9
| style="background-color: ; width: 28.57%"|18
| style="background-color: ; width: 6.35%"| 4
| style="background-color: ; width: 11.11%"| 7
| style="background-color: ; width: 39.68%"|25
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| 2009
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 22.22%"|14
| style="background-color: ; width: 31.75%"|20
| style="background-color: ; width: 6.35%"| 4
| style="background-color: ; width: 14.29%"| 9
| style="background-color: ; width: 25.40%"|16
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| 2013
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 11.11%"| 7
| style="background-color: ; width: 14.29%"| 9
| style="background-color: ; width: 9.52%"| 6
| style="background-color: ; width: 4.76%"| 3
| style="background-color: ; width: 30.16%"|19
| style="background-color: ; width: 30.16%"|19
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| 2016
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 15.87%"|10
| style="background-color: ; width: 4.76%"| 3
| style="background-color: ; width: 6.35%"| 4
| style="background-color: ; width: 15.87%"|10
| style="background-color: ; width: 11.11%"| 7
| style="background-color: ; width: 12.70%"| 8
| style="background-color: ; width: 33.33%"|21
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| 2017
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 17.46%"|11
| style="background-color: ; width: 6.35%"| 4
| style="background-color: ; width: 11.11%"| 7
| style="background-color: ; width: 9.52%"| 6
| style="background-color: ; width: 11.11%"| 7
| style="background-color: ; width: 6.35%"| 4
| style="background-color: ; width: 12.70%"| 8
| style="background-color: ; width: 25.40%"|16
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| 2021
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 12.70%"| 8
| style="background-color: ; width: 9.52%"| 6
| style="background-color: ; width: 9.52%"| 6
| style="background-color: ; width: 9.52%"| 6
| style="background-color: ; width: 4.76%"| 3
| style="background-color: ; width: 7.94%"| 5
| style="background-color: ; width: 20.63%"|13
| style="background-color: ; width: 25.40%"|16
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| 2024
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{| style="width:100%; text-align:center; font-weight:bold; color:white;"
| style="background-color: ; width: 15.87%"|10
| style="background-color: ; width: 23.81%"|15
| style="background-color: ; width: 12.70%"| 8
| style="background-color: ; width: 17.46%"|11
| style="background-color: ; width: 7.94%"| 5
| style="background-color: ; width: 22.22%"|14
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|}
Members (1980s–present)
- List of members of the parliament of Iceland, 1983–1987
- List of members of the parliament of Iceland, 1987–1991
- List of members of the parliament of Iceland, 1991–1995
- List of members of the Althing, 1995–1999
- List of members of the Althing, 1999–2003
- List of members of the Althing, 2003–2007
- List of members of the Althing, 2007–2009
- List of members of the Althing, 2009–2013
- List of members of the Althing, 2013–2016
- List of members of the Althing, 2016–2017
- List of members of the Althing, 2017–2021
- List of members of the Althing, 2021–2024
- List of members of the Althing, 2024–2028
See also
- Constituencies of Iceland
- Women in Iceland#Women's suffrage
- List of parliamentary assemblies of Iceland
- List of speakers of the Parliament of Iceland
- List of speakers of the Upper House of the Althing (until 1991 when the Althing became unicameral)
- List of speakers of the Lower House of the Althing (until 1991 when the Althing became unicameral)
Notes
References
External links
- Althingi's English website