The rise in popularity of Iceland’s Pirate Party is continuing, with the latest research showing that it is now the country’s third most popular party.
Two years ago, the party received just enough votes to join parliament but, according to a recent poll by Capacent Gallup, if elections took place today it would become the country’s third biggest political party.
More than 15 per cent of those quizzed admitted that they would vote for the party, a rise of five per cent from when elections were last held in 2013 and 11 per cent higher than the number from a poll at the beginning of the year.
The latest figures show that the Independence Party remains the most popular with 26 per cent of respondents favouring them, while the opposition Social Democratic Alliance came next with 17 per cent; however, that marks a four per cent rise in popularity since the elections.
Bright Future, with 13 per cent of the votes, is the fourth most popular party – a five per cent increase in popularity since the elections. Tied in fifth place are Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson’s Progressive Party and the Left-Green Movement, both of which have 11 per cent of the nation’s support. The results could prove worrying for the ruling party, which was voted into power with 24 per cent on the vote in 2013.