|
Faroese parliamentary election, 2008
|
Parliamentary elections were held in the Faroe Islands on 19 January 2008, the latest possible date. The Self-Government Party and the Centre Party gained a seat each while the Social Democratic Party lost a seat. The number of women went from three to seven.[1] The leaders of the ruling parties will discuss a possible continuation of the current government before trying other possibilities.[2]
It had been considered to amend the election law to hold the election two weeks later to pass a number of important bills before the election, but in the end the negotiations on this failed and the election was called on 2007-12-07.[3][4] Prior to this election, the electoral system was changed in 2007 from a constituency-based d'Hondt proportional representation (with seven multi-member constituencies), which had some elements of mixed member proportional voting, to a nation-wide d'Hondt based proportional system to reduce disproportionality.[5]
Prior to the election, the Social Democratic Party formed a centrist unionist government with the People's Party and the Union Party. After the elections, four days of negotiations saw a centre-left separatist government emerge; while the Social Democratic Party retained the PM's post, the strongly pro-independence Republic got the majority of ministerial posts (including the newly-created post of foreign minister). The Centre Party also participated in the new government. Among the coalition agreement points was a plan to draft a constitution for the Faroe Islands, which would be approved in a referendum to be held in 2010.
Results
e•d Summary of the 19 January 2008 Faroe Løgting election results
| Parties |
Votes |
% |
Seats |
| Republican Party (Tjfl, Tjóðveldisflokkurin) |
7,238 |
23.3 |
8 |
| Union Party (Sbfl, Sambandsflokkurin) |
6,521 |
21.0 |
7 |
| People's Party (Flfl, Fólkaflokkurin) |
6,233 |
20.1 |
7 |
| Social Democratic Party (Jvfl, Javnaðarflokkurin) |
6,016 |
19.3 |
6 |
| Centre Party (Mfl, Miðflokkurin) |
2,603 |
8.4 |
3 |
| Self-Government Party (Sjfl, Sjálvstýrisflokkurin) |
2,243 |
7.2 |
2 |
| Miðnámsflokkurin |
221 |
0.7 |
— |
| Total (turnout 89.3%) |
31,112 |
100.0 |
33 |
| Source: uf.fo |
References
|
