The Icelandic municipal elections of 2010 were held on 29 May in that year to elect the

municipal council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough cou ...

s of Iceland.

Results

Reykjavík

A new political party called The Best Party (Besti flokkurinn) won the most seats on the council, defeating the established parties.

Campaign

The Best Party led in the polls in the run up to the election with one survey showing they could win a majority on their own. Among the policies in the party's "best manifesto" were plans for a

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a large bear native to the Arctic and nearby areas. It is closely related to the brown bear, and the two species can Hybrid (biology), interbreed. The polar bear is the largest extant species of bear ...

for the city's zoo, a

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...

Reykjavík Airport Reykjavík Airport ( Icelandic: ''Reykjavíkurflugvöllur'') is the main domestic airport serving Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. The airport is located about from the city centre. It is the domestic hub of Icelandair flights and has two r ...

palm tree The Arecaceae () is a family of perennial, flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are colloquially c ...

s on the waterfront and free towels at swimming pools. However the leader of the Best Party, comedian

Jón Gnarr Jón Gnarr (; born Jón Gunnar Kristinsson on 2 January 1967) is an Icelanders, Icelandic actor, comedian, and politician who served as the Mayor of Reykjavík, Mayor of Reykjavík from 2010 to 2014. He is currently a member of the Althing for ...

, said that his party, which had only been founded in November 2009, was serious and his campaign manager said they wanted "to take a stand against a system that is completely ruined". Political analysts saw the strong support for the Best Party being due to the

economic 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 ma ...

that had taken place since 2008, which had led voters to lose confidence in the traditional political parties. Meanwhile, other politicians called on voters to get serious and avoid putting the city in the "hands of clowns" during a time of economic difficulty. As the election neared a poll showed the Best Party dropped slightly while remaining ahead, with the Independence Party rising, making it unlikely that the Best Party would win a majority.

Results

The results saw the Best Party become the largest party on the council with 6 of the 15 seats, but short of a majority. They defeated the Independence Party of

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

mayor

Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir (born 12 October 1966) is a politician and former Icelandic minister, mayor and parliamentarian. She is currently the chair of the Executive Board of Women Political Leaders, Global Forum.womenpoliticalleaders.org ...

into second place with 33.6% of the vote, compared to 34.7% for the Best Party. The results were described as "a shock" by the Icelandic

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (; born 4 October 1942) is an Icelandic politician, who served as prime minister of Iceland from 2009 to 2013. Elected as an MP from 1978 to 2013, she was appointed as Iceland's Minister of Social Affairs and Social ...

, with the leader of the Best Party, Jón Gnarr saying he should now become mayor of Reykjavík. Gnarr formed a coalition with the Social Democrats and was mayor until June 16, 2014.

References

{{Icelandic elections 2010 in Iceland

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2010 elections in Europe May 2010 in Europe