Progressive Party (Iceland)

The Progressive Party (, FSF) is an agrarian political party in Iceland.

From 30 November 2017 until the 2024 election, the party was a coalition partner in the Bjarni Benediktsson government. The current chairman of the party is Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson who was elected on 2 October 2016. His predecessor was Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, who was elected on 18 January 2009 and was prime minister of Iceland from 23 May 2013 to 5 April 2016.

Throughout most of the 20th century, the party entered into coalitions with parties on both the Left and Right on the Icelandic political spectrum.

Throughout most of the 20th century the party was a centre-left party, with many progressive and social democratic politicians leading the party, including Hermann Jónasson, Eysteinn Jónsson, Ásgeir Ásgeirsson, Ólafur Jóhannesson and Steingrímur Hermannsson. Steingrímur left office as leader in 1994, and when the new leader Halldór Ásgrímsson entered a coalition with the Independence Party in 1995, many cited the party going from the centre-left to the centre-right.

History

The Progressive Party was founded to represent Iceland's farmer class, which went from being dominant from settlement to the late 19th century to rapidly dwindling in the early 20th century as a result of industrialization and urbanization. Its primary support still comes from the rural areas of Iceland and its policy roots still stem from its origin as an agrarian party, although it has since come to self-identify as a liberal party, though this is disputed outside of the party. It was founded in 1916 as a merger of two agrarian parties, the Farmers' Party (Bændaflokkur) and the Independent Farmers (Óháðir bændur). In 1956 the party almost agreed to an aborted merger with the Social Democratic Party. Throughout Iceland's history as a self-governing and independent nation, the Progressive Party has most often been the second largest political party in the country. It has often joined government coalitions with either the Independence Party on the centre-right, or with centre-left parties. During the period 1927–1990, the Progressive Party held the prime minister post for thirty years and spent more than two-thirds of the time in coalition government.

The 1974 parliamentary election led to a coalition government of the Independence Party and Progressive Party led by Geir Hallgrímsson.

In January 2009, it decided to change its party line on joining the European Union (EU) from being opposed to being in favour of EU accession, but with very strong caveats. The party later changed its policy to one of firm opposition to EU membership. In the wake of the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis, the Progressive Party became more populist. According to political scientist Eiríkur Bergmann, "a completely renewed leadership took over the country’s old agrarian party, the Progressive Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn— PP), which was rapidly retuned in a more populist direction; geared against foreign creditors, international institutions and eventually partly towards anti- Muslim rhetoric, which until then had been absent in the country—there is no significant Muslim minority in Iceland. Under the new post-crisis leader- ship, the Progressive Party thus moved closer to populist parties in Europe." At the time, the party moved completely from the centre and became much more of a plain right wing party.

In the 2009 parliamentary election, the Progressive Party fared somewhat better, securing 14.8% of the vote, and increasing its number of seats from seven to nine. It remained in opposition, however, with a centre-left coalition of the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Movement continuing to govern with an increased majority.

2010s

In the 2013 parliamentary election, the Progressive Party reached second place nationally, winning 24.4% of the vote and 19 seats. Following the election, a centre-right coalition government was formed between the Progressive Party and Independence Party, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson of the Progressive Party appointed as prime minister. Sigmundur Davíð was a very polarising figure in Iceland during his tenure as prime minister, and suffered low approval ratings. Sigmundur Davíð was ousted as leader in September 2016 of the party shortly after he was implicated in scandal and ethical quandaries in the Panama Papers release in April 2016, which followed his resignation. Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson defeated him in the leadership spill election, and took the party to a more grounded centre approach.

The Progressive Party split in 2017 when Sigmundur Davíð created his own party, the Centre Party (Miðflokkurinn). In 2017, the Progressive Party entered a coalition with the Independence Party and the Left Green movement.

2020s

After the 2021 parliamentary election, the new government was, just like the previous government, a three-party coalition of the Independence Party, the Progressive Party and the Left-Green Movement, headed by Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir of Left-Green Movement. In the election, the Progressives suffered a big increase in votes, reaching 17% and coming in second.

Following the fall of the coalition in October 2024, a snap election was called for November. In the election, the Progressives suffered a very big loss, losing eight seats and coming in sixth. During the election, the party took a turn in immigration policies, becoming pro-immigration. Many have called upon Sigurður Ingi to resign as leader.

Election results

{| class=wikitable style="text-align: center;"

! Election

! Leader

! Votes

! %

! Seats

! +/–

! Position

! Government

! 1919

| Ólafur Briem

| 3,115

| 22.19

| New

| 3rd

! 1923

| Þorleifur Jónsson

| 8,062

| 26.55

| 4

| 2nd

! 1927

| rowspan=2 | Tryggvi Þórhallsson

| 9,532

| 29.78

| 4

| 1st

! 1931

| 13,844

| 35.92

| 4

| 1st

! 1933

| Ásgeir Ásgeirsson

| 8,530

| 23.91

| 6

| 2nd

! 1934

| Hermann Jónasson

| 11,377

| 21.91

| 2

| 2nd

! 1937

| rowspan=3 | Jónas frá Hriflu

| 14,556

| 24.92

| 4

| 1st

! 1942 (Jul)

| 16,033

| 27.58

| 1

| 1st

! 1942 (Oct)

| 15,869

| 26.60

| 5

| 2nd

! 1946

| rowspan=6 | Hermann Jónasson

| 15,429

| 23.06

| 2

| 2nd

! 1949

| 17,659

| 24.45

| 4

| 2nd

! 1953

| 16,959

| 21.91

| 1

| 2nd

! 1956

| 12,925

| 15.63

| 1

| 2nd

! 1959 (Jun)

| 23,061

| 27.20

| 2

| 2nd

! 1959 (Oct)

| 21,882

| 25.71

| 2

| 2nd

! 1963

| rowspan=2 | Eysteinn Jónsson

| 25,217

| 28.222

| 2

| 2nd

! 1967

| 27,029

| 28.13

| 1

| 2nd

! 1971

| rowspan=3 | Ólafur Jóhannesson

| 26,645

| 25.28

| 1

| 2nd

! 1974

| 28,381

| 24.87

| 0

| 2nd

! 1978

| 20,656

| 16.90

| 5

| 4th

! 1979

| rowspan=4 | Steingrímur Hermannsson

| 30,861

| 24.94

| 5

| 2nd

! 1983

| 24,754

| 19.05

| 3

| 2nd

! 1987

| 28,902

| 18.92

| 1

| 2nd

! 1991

| 29,866

| 18.93

| 0

| 2nd

! 1995

| rowspan=3 | Halldór Ásgrímsson

| 38,485

| 23.32

| 2

| 2nd

! 1999

| 30,415

| 18.35

| 3

| 3rd

! 2003

| 32,484

| 17.73

| 0

| 3rd

! 2007

| Jón Sigurðsson

| 21,350

| 11.72

| 5

| 4th

! 2009

| rowspan=2 | Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson

| 27,699

| 14.80

| 2

| 4th

! 2013

| 46,173

| 24.43

| 10

| 2nd

! 2016

| rowspan=4 | Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson

| 21,791

| 11.49

| 11

| 4th

! 2017

| 21,016

| 10.71

| 0

| 4th

!2021

| 34,501

| 17.27

| 5

| 2nd

!2024

| 16,578

| 7.80

| 8

| 6th

Members of Parliament

Until the elections in 2024, the Progressive Party had thirteen members of parliament.

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"

!colspan=2|Member of Parliament!!Since!!Title!!Constituency

|Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson

|80px

|2009

|Party Chair

Minister of Infrastructure

|South

|Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir

|80px

|2016

|Party Vice-chair

Minister of Culture and Business

|Reykjavik South

|Ásmundur Einar Daðason

|80px

|2017

|Party Secretary

Minister of Education and Children affairs

|Reykjavik North

|Willum Þór Þórsson

|80px

|2017

|Minister of Health

|Southwest

|Ingibjörg Isaksen

|2021

|Leader of the Parliamentary Group

|Northeast

|Stefán Vagn Stefánsson

|2021

|Northwest

|Lilja Rannveig Sigurgeirsdóttir

|2021

|Northwest

|Halla Signý Kristjánsdóttir

|80px

|2017

|Northwest

|Jóhann Friðrik Friðriksson

|2021

|South

|Hafdís Hrönn Hafsteinsdóttir

|2021

|South

|Ágúst Bjarni Garðarsson

|2021

|Southwest

|Líneik Anna Sævarsdóttir

|80px

|2017

|Northeast

|Þórarinn Ingi Pétursson

|2021

|Northeast

Leadership

{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!Nº

!colspan="2"|Chairman

!Took office

!Left office

!Prime Ministry

|style="text-align: right;"|1

|100px

|Ólafur Briem (1851–1925)

|1916

|1920

|style="text-align: right;"|2

|100px

|Sveinn Ólafsson (1863–1949)

|1920

|1922

|style="text-align: right;"|3

|100px

|Þorleifur Jónsson (1864–1956)

|1922

|1928

|style="text-align: right;"|4

|100px

|Tryggvi Þórhallsson (1889–1935)

|1928

|1932

|1927-1932

|style="text-align: right;"|5

|100px

|Ásgeir Ásgeirsson (1894–1972)

|1932

|1933

|1932-1934

|style="text-align: right;"|6

|100px

|Sigurður Kristinsson (1880–1963)

|1933

|1934

|style="text-align: right;"|7

|frameless|133x133px

|Jónas Jónsson (1885–1968)

|1934

|1944

|style="text-align: right;"|8

|100px

|Hermann Jónasson (1896–1976)

|1944

|1962

|1934-1942,

1956-1958

|style="text-align: right;"|9

|Eysteinn Jónsson (1906–1993)

|1962

|1968

|style="text-align: right;"|10

|Ólafur Jóhannesson (1913–1984)

|1968

|1979

|1971-1974,

1978-1979

|style="text-align: right;"|11

|frameless|141x141px

|Steingrímur Hermannsson (1928–2010)

|1979

|1994

|1983-1987,

1988-1991

|style="text-align: right;"|12

|frameless|150x150px

|Halldór Ásgrímsson (1947–2015)

|1994

|2006

|2004-2006

|style="text-align: right;"|13

|Jón Sigurðsson (1946–2021)

|2006

|2007

|style="text-align: right;"|14

|100px

|Guðni Ágústsson (born 1949)

|2007

|2008

|style="text-align: right;"|15

|100px

|Valgerður Sverrisdóttir (born 1950)

|2008

|2009

|style="text-align: right;"|16

|frameless|141x141px

|Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson (born 1975)

|2009

|2016

|2013-2016

|style="text-align: right;"|17

|frameless|138x138px

|Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson (born 1962)

|2016

|Present

|2016-2017

Members of the party who served as prime minister but not as leader

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! colspan="2" |Prime Minister

!Took office

!Left office

|frameless|125x125px

|Steingrímur Steinþórsson (1893–1966)

|1950

|1953

References

External links

Progressive Party official site

History

2010s

2020s

Election results

Members of Parliament

Leadership

Members of the party who served as prime minister but not as leader

See also

References

External links