Liberal Party (Iceland)

Liberal Party Frjálslyndi flokkurinn
Chairman	Sigurjón Þórðarson
Vice chairperson	Ásta Hafberg
Founded	28 November 1998
Headquarters	Lyngháls 3 110 Reykjavík
Ideology	Conservative liberalism Libertarianism Agrarianism Euroscepticism
Political position	Fiscal: Centre-right Social: Centre-right
International affiliation	None
European affiliation	None
Official colours	Blue and white
Seats in the Althing	0 / 63
Website
www.xf.is
Politics of Iceland Political parties Elections

The Liberal Party (Icelandic: Frjálslyndi flokkurinn) is a centre-right conservative liberal political party in Iceland. It has no seats in the Althing, having lost its four seats at the 2009 election.

The Liberal Party was founded by former Independence Party MP Sverrir Hermannsson in 1998. It was founded primarily in opposition to the fishing quota, and became a protest vote. In the following year's election, the party won two seats out of 63. This climbed to four in 2003: a level that was maintained at the 2007 election. However, the party lost all its parliamentary representation in 2009, after a financial crisis hit the country.

The party is a strong supporter of the free market, against subsidies and monopolies, and in favour of civil liberties. The party chairman is Sigurjón Þórðarson.

History

The Liberal Party was founded by Sverrir Hermannsson, a former MP of the Independence Party and CEO of Landsbanki, in November 1998.

In 2006/7, the minor New Force party merged into the Liberal Party, which caused the prominent Liberal Party member Margrét Sverrisdóttir to leave the party and join the Icelandic Movement - Living Land, threatening to split the Liberal Party.

The party has, before the 2007 parliament elections, moved from being primarily focused on issues of fishing quotas and small fishing communities toward immigration. It is the only political party in Iceland that supports strict restrictions on immigration, and consequently the party has been accused of xenophobia.^{[citation needed]} The party conducted a members' poll in January 2009 in order to determine its EU stance. The outcome was against EU-accession of Iceland.

In February 2009, two of the Liberal Party's parliamentarians left the party; Jón Magnússon joined the Independence Party and Kristinn H. Gunnarsson joined the Progressive Party.

Ideology

Immigration

The Liberal Party of Iceland is against unrestricted immigration and wishes to tighten these laws.^{[citation needed]}

Foreign policy

See also: Iceland and the European Union

The Liberal Party is against the idea of Iceland joining the European Union. The party's stance was decided in a party members' poll which was conducted in December 2008. The question was: "Should Iceland seek EU-membership?". The results were published in January 2009 with 51.6% being against EU-accession, 34.8% in favour and 9.5% undecided.

The party supports Iceland's membership of NATO, but was firmly opposed to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Electoral performance

Election	Number of votes for Liberal	Share of votes	Seats	Outcome of election
1999	6,919	4.2%	2	Independence Victory
2003	13,523	7.4%	4	Independence Victory
2007	13,233	7.26%	4	Independence Victory
2009	4,148	2.2%	0	Alliance Victory

Leaders

Chairpersons

• Sverrir Hermannsson, 1998–2003
• Guðjón Arnar Kristjánsson, 2003–2010
• Sigurjón Þórðarson, 2010–

Vice-chairpersons

• Gunnar Ingi Gunnarsson, 1998–2003
• Magnús Þór Hafsteinsson, 2003–2009
• Ásgerður Flosadóttir 2009
• Kolbrún Stefánsdóttir, 2009–2010
• Ásta Hafberg, 2010–

See also

• Politics of Iceland
• Liberalism and centrism in Iceland
• Liberalism
• Liberal democracy
• Contributions to liberal theory

External links

• Official website (English)
• Official website (Icelandic)