Almost half of all Icelandic voters aged 18-29 intend to vote for the Pirate Party at the next general elections, according to a new opinion poll by MMR.

At the same time, most other parties currently represented in the Icelandic Parliament (‘Alþingi’) fail to hit even double-figures support among young voters.

Even the Pirate Party’s nearest rival, the centre-right Independence Party garners just over 15% of youth-voter support – over thirty percentage points adrift of the Pirates’ figure.

Bjarni Benediktsson, leader of the Independence Party, must win back young voters. Photo: Eggert Jóhannesson

Support for the Independence Party among young voters is clearly in free-fall. 47% of 18-29-year-olds supported the party in 1999, 30% four years later, and 25% in 2009. The trend continues in this latest poll, with the Independence Party scoring just 15.5%.

The Pirates’ domination of the youth vote is also bad news for the other mainstream parties in Icelandic politics. Bright Future, the Left-Greens, the Social Democratic Alliance and the Progressive Party are all stuck in the 5-10% range.

MMR’s Ólaf Þór Gylfa­son states that a decisive factor in what happens in the 2017 general elections will be how effectively the Independence Party can win back young voters.