Faroese parliamentary election, 2008

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Faroe Islands

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
the Faroe Islands


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Politics of Denmark


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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.

[edit] Results

ed 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

[edit] References

  1. ^ Nýggja løgtingið valt - stór útskifting og fleiri kvinnur Kringvarp Føroya, 20 January 2008 (Faroese)
  2. ^ Samgonguflokkarnir vilja fyrst geva sær sjálvum nýggjan kjans Kringvarp Føroya, 20 January 2008 (Faroese)
  3. ^ Faroese election Norden, 10 December 2007
  4. ^ Faeroes to head to polls The Copenhagen Post, 7 December 2007
  5. ^ Elections to the Faroese Løgting Election Resources on the Internet