General elections were held in the Faroe Islands on 1 September 2015. Elections for the Danish Folketing were held beforehand on 18 June.

Background

On 4 August 2015 the

Løgting The Løgting (pronounced ; da, Lagtinget) is the unicameral parliament of the Faroe Islands, an autonomous territory within the Danish Realm. The name literally means "''Law Thing''"—that is, a law assembly—and derives from Old Norse ''l ...

passed a motion that criticized Prime Minister

Kaj Leo Johannesen Kaj Leo Holm Johannesen (born 28 August 1964 in Tórshavn) is a Faroese politician. He was the prime minister of the Faroe Islands, representing the Faroese Unionist Party ( Sambandsflokkurin). He took office, succeeding Jóannes Eidesgaard on ...

and former Minister of the Interior

Kári P. Højgaard Kári Páll Højgaard (born 21 July 1951 in Strendur, Faroe Islands) is a Faroese politician. He was chairman of the Self-Government Party (Sjálvstýrisflokkurin) until April 2015 and is a former president of the West Nordic Council (2008-09) ...

, accusing Johannesen of lying to the Løgting in connection with a 1 million kroner break fee clause in the contract led by the

Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners P/S ("CIP") is an investment firm specializing in infrastructure investments, particularly wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to generate electricity. Wind power is a ...

to build a sub-sea tunnel between Eysturoy and

Streymoy Streymoy ( da, Strømø) is the largest and most populated island of the Faroe Islands. The capital, Tórshavn, is located on its southeast coast. The name means "island of currents". It also refers to the largest region of the country that also i ...

. Although Kaj Leo Johannesen had previously told the Løgting that he had no part of the break fee, a judicial inquiry led by Hans Gammeltoft-Hansen (the Danish

ombudsman An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...

from 1987 until 2012) confirmed in June 2015 that Kaj Leo Johannesen had knowingly misled the Løgting on several occasions, thereby breaking the law. For some time not much happened, the Prime Minister refused to take any action but went on holiday for a month. The speaker of the Løgting refused to assemble parliament, which had no scheduled meeting before 29 July 2015. On 29 July Kaj Leo Johannesen gave his annual Ólavsøka speech to the Løgting, ending it by calling general elections. A week later on 4 August, the Løgting assembled to discuss the Johannesen's speech, as the law requires. All 33 members of the Løgting voted yes, including Højgaard.

Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

and Progress then demanded a vote of no confidence in Kaj Leo Johannesen, in which 14 MPs voted for the motion, 9 against it and 10 cast blank votes, short of the majority of 17 required to pass the motion. Only 9 of 20 MPs from Kaj Leo Johannesen's coalition chose to back him and voted against the motion, including six from his own party, the Speaker

Jógvan á Lakjuni Jógvan á Lakjuni (born 13 November 1952 in Fuglafjørður) is a Faroese politician, composer and teacher. He was speaker of the Faroese parliament, the Løgting, from 2011 to 2015 and from 2019 to 2022. He worked as a fisherman from 1969 to 1972 ...

from the People's Party and the two MPs from the Centre Party. However, three Union Party MPs cast blank votes, including Deputy Chairman

Bárður Nielsen Bárður () or Bardur is a Nordic masculine given name that derives from the Old Norse name Bárðr . It may refer to *Bárður Eyþórsson, Icelandic basketball coach *Bárður Háberg (born 1979), Faroese musician, songwriter and composer *Bár ...

, whilst People's Party chairman

Jákup Mikkelsen Jákup Nolsøe Mikkelsen (born 14 August 1970) is a Faroese former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He made 522 league appearances in representing six clubs in a career spanning 25 years, also representing his country at international lev ...

voted for the motion. Kaj Leo Johannesen maintains that he did not lie, but only gave incorrect information to the Løgting.

Electoral system

The 33 members of the

were elected by open list proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency with an electoral threshold of of votes (~3.03%). Seats were allocated using the d'Hondt method.

Opinion polls

The ruling centre-right coalition led by Johannesen was consistently behind in the polls, while the Social Democrats led by Aksel Johannesen were well ahead. However, polls closer to election day showed a tightening race.

Vote

Seats

Results

The opposition parties made a major comeback from the

2011 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2011. * Local electoral calendar 2011 * National electoral calendar 2011 * 2011 United Nations Security Council election Africa * 2011 Beninese presidential election * 2011 Beninese parliamentary el ...

, with the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

and

gaining two and one seats respectively. Progress regained its second seat, which it lost in 2011 when

Janus Rein In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus ( ; la, Ianvs ) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janu ...

left the party. Despite a small reduction in their vote share, New Self-Government gained one seat. Of the 117 void votes, 76 were blank and 41 invalid.Løgtingsval 1. september 2015
KVF

By region and polling district

There were 58 polling districts (down from 60 in 2011), of which 56 were towns and two (Giljanes and Fossanes) were schools. Giljanes was one of the two polling places on the western island of

Vágar Vágar ( da, Vågø) is one of the 18 islands in the archipelago of the Faroe Islands and the most westerly of the ''large islands''. With a size of , it ranks number three, behind Streymoy and Eysturoy. Vágar region also comprises the island ...

, while Fossanes is located on the

Norðoyar The six islands in the northeast of the Faroe Islands are together referred to as Norðoyar, i.e. the Northern Isles ( da, Norderøerne). These Islands from west to east are Kalsoy, Kunoy, Borðoy, Viðoy, Svínoy and Fugloy. Klaksvík Klak ...

. There were two polling places in the capital area; Tórshavn, which includes the suburbs of

Hvítanes Hvítanes ( da, Hvidenæs) is a village in the Faroe Islands. It is on Streymoy's east coast, northeast of Hoyvík and Tórshavn. Its name means "White Point" in Faroese language, Faroese. Hvítanes is located in a little bay with a stone beach a ...

and Hoyvík, and the southern suburb

Argir Argir ( da, Arge) is a village in the Faroe Islands. Argir most likely takes its name from Old Irish ''airge'' meaning ''summer pasture''.; several placenames in Faroe carry the same name with this meaning. Once a village south of Tórshavn, Arg ...

. The Vágar region includes the neighbouring island Mykines and the Sandoy region includes

Skúvoy Skúvoy or Skúgvoy ( da, Skuø) is an island in the central Faroe Islands, located to the south of Sandoy. It is named after the large number of great skua present on the island (who have a habit of attacking intruders). There is only one se ...

, while the rest of

includes the polling places on the islets

Nólsoy Nólsoy (previously also ''Nölsoy''; da, Nolsø; non, Norsey) is an island and village in central Faroe Islands, 4 km east of the capital Tórshavn in Streymoy. Description Nólsoy is the lowest of the Faroes; the highest point is Eggjark ...

and

Hestur Hestur ( da, Hestø) is an island in the central Faroe Islands, to the west of Streymoy and the south of Koltur. ''Hestur'' means ''horse'' in Faroese. On the west coast is a guillemot colony. In the north there is moorland with four small lakes ...

References

{{Faroese elections Elections in the Faroe Islands

Faroes The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway betw ...

2015 in the Faroe Islands September 2015 events in Europe