The Social Democratic Party ( is, Alþýðuflokkurinn), officially the People's Party, was a

social-democratic Social democracy is a Political philosophy, political, Social philosophy, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocati ...

political party in Iceland This article is a list of political parties in Iceland. Iceland has a multi-party system with many political parties, in which often no one party has a chance of gaining power alone, and parties must work with each other to form coalition govern ...

. It was founded in 1916, as the political representation of the

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

s of Iceland.

History

In 1920 its first member of the

Althing The Alþingi (''general meeting'' in Icelandic, , anglicised as ' or ') is the supreme national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest surviving parliaments in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ("thing fields" or "assembly ...

, the Icelandic parliament, Jón Baldvinsson was elected. The party would contest elections to the Althing with little success until 1934, when the party obtained 10 parliamentary seats. Iceland shifted towards a

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

system later that year which political scientist Amel Ahmed attributes to the rising electoral threat that the Social Democratic Party posed to the

Independence Party Independence Party may refer to: Active parties Outside United States * Independence Party (Egypt) * Estonian Independence Party * Independence Party (Finland) * Independence Party (Iceland) * Independence Party (Mauritius) * Independence Part ...

and

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

. Between 1926 and 1940, the party was a member of the

Labour and Socialist International The Labour and Socialist International (LSI; german: Sozialistische Arbeiter-Internationale, label=German, SAI) was an international organization of socialist and labour parties, active between 1923 and 1940. The group was established through a me ...

.Kowalski, Werner (1985)
''Geschichte der sozialistischen arbeiter-internationale: 1923–1919''
Berlin: Dt. Verl. d. Wissenschaften (in German). The party led the government of Iceland three times, first in 1947–1949 under

Stefán Jóhann Stefánsson Stefán Jóhann Stefánsson (20 July 1894 – 20 October 1980) was the first actual minister of Foreign Affairs in Iceland from 18 November 1941 to 17 January 1942. He was prime minister of Iceland from 4 February 1947 to 6 December 1949. He was ...

, then in 1958–1959 under

Emil Jónsson Guðmundur Emil Jónsson (27 October 1902 – 30 November 1986) was prime minister of Iceland from 23 December 1958 to 20 November 1959. He first became minister of Fisheries and Social affairs. He was a chairman of the Social Democratic ...

and finally under

Benedikt Sigurðsson Gröndal Benedikt Sigurðsson Gröndal (7 July 1924 – 20 July 2010) was prime minister of Iceland for the Social Democratic Party (Iceland), Social Democratic Party (''Alþýðuflokkurinn'') from 15 October 1979 to 8 February 1980. Prior to that he was ...

in 1979–1980. Its longest participation in government was with the

from 1959–1971. The Social Democratic Party was succeeded in 2000 by the

Social Democratic Alliance The Social Democratic Alliance ( is, Samfylkingin - jafnaðarflokkur Íslands), officially The Alliance – Iceland's Social Democratic Party, is a social democratic, and pro-European political party in Iceland. The Social Democratic Alliance wa ...

, a

centre-left Centre-left politics lean to the left on the left–right political spectrum but are closer to the centre than other left-wing politics. Those on the centre-left believe in working within the established systems to improve social justice. The c ...

party with a wider political base created by the merger of the Social Democratic Party with the National Awakening, the People's Alliance and the

Women's List The Women's List or Women's Alliance ( is, Samtök um kvennalista), also called Kvennalistinn and abbreviated KL, was a feminist political party in Iceland that took part in national politics from 1983 to 1999. The party held three seats in the p ...

Party chairmen

* Ottó N. Þorláksson (1916) * Jón Baldvinsson (1916–1938) *

(1938–1952) *

Hannibal Valdimarsson Hannibal Gísli Valdimarsson (13 January 1903 – 1 September 1991) was an Icelandic politician. Parliament He was a member of parliament from 1946 to 1959 for the Social Democratic Party and People's Alliance and then from 1963 to 1974 for t ...

(1952–1954) *

Haraldur Guðmundsson Haraldur is a masculine Icelandic given name. Notable people with the name include: *Haraldur Freyr Guðmundsson (born 1981), Icelandic professional football defender *Haraldur Ingólfsson (born 1970), Icelandic former footballer *Haraldur Kálv ...

(1954–1958) *

(1958–1968) *

Gylfi Þorsteinsson Gíslason Gylfi Þorsteinsson Gíslason (7 February 1917 – 18 August 2004) was an Icelandic politician. Gylfi was a member of the Social Democratic Party. He served as Minister of Education 1956–1971, as Minister of Industry 1956–1958 and as Minist ...

(1968–1974) *

(1974–1980) *

Kjartan Jóhannsson Kjartan Jóhannsson (19 December 1939 – 13 November 2020) was an Icelandic diplomat, politician, cabinet minister, and professor. Kjartan was ambassador of Iceland to, among others, the European Union in Brussels, Belgium, as well as the Uni ...

(1980–1984) *

Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson (born 21 February 1939) is an Icelandic politician and diplomat. He was Minister of Finance from 1987 to 1988 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1988 to 1995. He is known in the Baltics as, at his initiative, Icela ...

(1984–1996) *

Sighvatur Kristinn Björgvinsson Sighvatur Kristinn Björgvinsson (born 23 January 1942) is an Icelandic politician and former minister. He was the Minister of Finance of Iceland The Icelandic Ministry of Finance (Icelandic: ') is responsible for overseeing the finances of t ...

(1996–1998) *

Guðmundur Árni Stefánsson Guðmundur Árni Stefánsson (born 31 October 1955) is an Icelandic politician and diplomat. He was a member of the Althing from 1993 to 2005, was Minister of Health and Social Security and Minister of Social Affairs, and has served as Icelan ...

(1998–2000)

History

Party chairmen

Election results

References

Further reading