No, not the Somali kind, not the Pittsburg kind, I'm talking about the Icelandic kind. If you're tired of American politics, take a peek at Iceland where the Pirate Party is about to take over. Iceland
Vikings! Those barbarian guys with horns on their helmets! They came up short, getting 14.5% (compared to 5.1% in 2013, the last election). The winner was the ruling (center right) Independence Party, which got 29%, up from 26.7% in 2013. The big loser was the Progressive Party at 11.5%, down from 24.4%. The Icelandic Althing (their parliament) has 63 seats. 21 seats were won by the Independence Party, 10 seats by the Left-Green Movement, 10 seats by the Pirate Party, 8 seats by the Progressive Party, and 7 seats by a new party called Revival. The remaining 7 seats went to others. I'm not sure whether the Pirates are more to the left or the right, but it looks to me like the big change this election might have been the movement of voters to what could be called more extreme left parties, Left-Green and maybe the Pirates (which might be the young persons' alienation party). The big loser was the more moderate left Progressives. Revival is a spin off of Independence, sharing similar views but favoring Icelandic entry into the European Union, which the Independence Party opposes. Their new government will have to be a coalition. Left-Green, Pirates and Progressives total 28. Independence and Revival total 28. So the ability of Independence to form a majority government will depend on those seven 'others'. Maybe the Progressives might think Left-Green and the Pirates are too loony-tunes and join with Independence. Pirate Party Surge Falls Short as Icelanders Back Stability - Bloomberg It looks to me like this election in Iceland experienced the same kind of "populist" (people against the ruling elites) turmoil that many other Western countries are seeing, except here it was expressed more on the left than the right. (Bernie Sanders-style.)
