Iceland’s Pirate Party continues to garner support among Icelanders, with the latest Gallup opinion poll giving them 36% of the popular vote.

Support for the ‘Píratar’, as the party is known in Icelandic, has been increasing steadily since the beginning of the year and is now at a record high of 36%. This is reported by Icelandic national broadcaster RÚV (see article in Icelandic here ).

No other party has reached this level at any point during this parliament.

The Pirates have climbed four percentage points in just one month (from 32% last month ) and are now almost 15 points ahead of their nearest rival.

The Pirate Party's current 3 MPs.

Winners and losers

This rise is inevitably to the detriment of other more ‘mainstream’ political parties.

The centre-right Independence Party (‘Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn’) has fallen two points to just 21.6%, its lowest performance in seven years. Things look even bleaker for the centre-left Social Democratic Alliance (‘Samfylkingin’), which now scores just 9% – support for the party has not been lower in seventeen years.

Árni Páll Árnason, leader of the Social Democratic Alliance. Photo: Eggert

Support for the two parties making up the current ruling coalition, i.e. the Independence Party and the Progressive Party (‘Framsóknarflokkurinn’), totals 34%, down two points on last month.

The Bright Future Party (‘Björt framtíð’), one of the six parties currently sitting in the Icelandic Parliament (‘Alþingi’), is currently polling at 4.4% – below the 5% threshold required to return an MP to parliament.

23.2% of respondents are undecided, or intend to spoil their vote, or not vote at all.