The Liberal Party ( is, Frjálslyndi flokkurinn) was a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. Its main issue was fisheries policy and it drew its main support from coastal villages. The Liberal Party was founded by former

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 ...

MP Sverrir Hermannsson in 1998. It was founded primarily in opposition to the

fishing quota Catch share is a fishery management system that allocates a secure privilege to harvest a specific area or percentage of a fishery's total catch to individuals, communities, or associations. Examples of catch shares are individual transferable quot ...

, and became a

protest vote A protest vote (also called a blank, null, spoiled, or "none of the above" vote) is a vote cast in an election to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the choice of candidates or the current political system. Protest voting takes a variety of forms a ...

. 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 A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and man ...

hit the country. The party was a strong supporter of the

free market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any o ...

, against

subsidies A subsidy or government incentive is a form of financial aid or support extended to an economic sector (business, or individual) generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy. Although commonly extended from the government, the ter ...

and

monopolies A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

, and in favour of

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...

. It was oriented particularly towards the fishing industry and campaigns for the coastal electorate. It advocated the redistribution of fishing rights, as few big fishing companies had bought up around 70% of all quotas. While Reykjavík-based large-scale fisheries became rich, some coastal villages that were dependent on draught became impoverished. The party decided in March 2012 to merge with the newly formed

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizo ...

History

The Liberal Party was founded by Sverrir Hermannsson, a former MP of the

and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Landsbanki Landsbanki (literally "national bank"), also commonly known as Landsbankinn (literally "the national bank") which is now the name of the current rebuilt bank (here called "New Landsbanki"), was one of the largest Icelandic commercial banks that f ...

, in November 1998. Sverrir had been a member of Independence-led governments from 1983 to 1988 before he went into the private sector. He turned his back to the Independence Party in disappointment over their turn to

neoliberal Neoliberalism (also neo-liberalism) is a term used to signify the late 20th century political reappearance of 19th-century ideas associated with free-market capitalism after it fell into decline following the Second World War. A prominent fa ...

policies. 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 had, before the 2007 parliament elections, moved from being primarily focused on issues of fishing quotas and small fishing communities toward immigration. It was the only political party in Iceland that supports strict restrictions on immigration, and consequently the party was accused of

xenophobia Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...

. The party conducted a members' poll in January 2009 in order to determine its EU stance. The outcome was against EU-accession of Iceland. The party supports strict neutrality. In February 2009, two of the Liberal Party's parliamentarians left the party; Jón Magnússon joined the

and Kristinn H. Gunnarsson joined the

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 ...

Ideology

Fishing quotas

The party was founded in opposition of the fishing quotas system which the

and

passed in 1983. The party sought to represent those coastal villages that felt left out as the ownership of the quotas was consolidated in a few Reykjavík-based fisheries.

Privatisation

The party was not as positive towards privatisations as the

. It opposed the privatisation on the energy company

Hitaveita Suðurnesja Hitaveita Suðurnesja was an Icelandic energy company. The largest shareholder was Reykjanesbær. The company was founded as a geothermal energy firm in the southwest of Iceland in 1974. It built a power plant at Svartsengi to tap the geothermal en ...

Immigration

The party had a conservative attitude towards immigration and wished to implement further restrictions.

Foreign policy

The part was against the idea of Iceland joining the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. 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 supported Iceland's membership of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, but was firmly opposed to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Election results

Parliament

Leaders

Chairpersons

* Sverrir Hermannsson, 1998–2003 * Guðjón Arnar Kristjánsson, 2003–2010 * Sigurjón Þórðarson, 2010–2012

Vice-chairpersons

Gunnar Ingi Gunnarsson Gunnar is a male first name of Nordic origin (''Gunnarr'' in Old Norse). The name Gunnar means fighter, soldier, and attacker, but mostly is referred to by the Viking saying which means Brave and Bold warrior (''gunnr'' "war" and ''arr'' "warrior ...

, 1998–2003 * Magnús Þór Hafsteinsson, 2003–2009 * Ásgerður Flosadóttir 2009 * Kolbrún Stefánsdóttir, 2009–2010 * Ásta Hafberg, 2010–2012

Footnotes

{{Parties of Iceland 1998 establishments in Iceland Defunct liberal political parties Defunct political parties in Iceland Eurosceptic parties in Iceland Liberal parties in Iceland Political parties established in 1998 Political parties disestablished in 2012 2012 disestablishments in Iceland