The Social Democratic Party () was a

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

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

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s of Iceland.

History

In 1920, its first member of the

Althing The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Parliament, national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ('Thing (assembly), thing ...

, the Icelandic parliament,

Jón Baldvinsson Jón is an Old Norse common name still widely used in Iceland and the Faroes. According to Icelandic custom, people named Jón are generally referred to by first and middle names and those without a middle name are referred to with both first nam ...

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 any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...

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

Labour and Socialist International The Labour and Socialist International (LSI) was an international organization of socialist and labourist parties, active between 1923 and 1940. The group was established through a merger of the rival Vienna International and the Berne Intern ...

.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 Pa ...

and finally under Benedikt Sigurðsson Gröndal in 1979–1980. Its longest participation in government was with the Independence Party from 1959 to 1971. The Social Democratic Party was succeeded in 2000 by the

Social Democratic Alliance The Social Democratic Alliance (, ) is a Social democracy, social democratic List of political parties in Iceland, political party in Iceland. The party is positioned on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum and their ...

, a

centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

party with a wider political base created by the merger of the Social Democratic Party with the National Awakening, the

People's Alliance People's Alliance may refer to: * People's Alliance ( ''Volksunie''), Belgian political party which split in 2001 into the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie and Spirit * People's Alliance (Bulgaria), a Bulgarian party from 1921 to 1923 * People's Alliance ( ...

and the

Women's List The Women's List or Women's Alliance (), 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 parliament elected in 1983, ...

Party chairmen

* Ottó N. Þorláksson (1916) *

(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 the ...

(1952–1954) * Haraldur Guðmundsson (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 (Iceland), Social Democratic Party. He served as Minister of Education 1956–1971, as Minister of ...

(1968–1974) * Benedikt Sigurðsson Gröndal (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 UN ...

(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 ...

(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