Parliamentary Elections, 25 April 2009

Following an invitation from the authorities of Iceland, ODIHR deployed an election assessment mission on 15 April to assess the early parliamentary elections on 25 April.

Led by Ambassador Geert Ahrens of Germany, the mission included 10 election experts from 10 OSCE participating States.

According to the mission's final report: "Iceland has a long tradition of holding democratic elections, and these elections were conducted in keeping with that tradition. Against a challenging economic background and a change of government after significant public protest, the early elections demonstrated a competitive, open and pluralistic process, founded on a high level of public confidence in the overall integrity, efficiency and impartiality of the election administration. Party and candidate registration was inclusive, ensuring a wide choice of political alternatives and enabling two new parties to contest the elections at short notice, with one of these parties obtaining representation in the new parliament. Turnout was reported at 85.1 per cent."