The Left-Green Movement (, ), also known by its short-form name Vinstri græn (VG), is an eco-socialist

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

. Since the 2024 Icelandic parliamentary election, the party has had no members in 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 party chairperson is Svandís Svavarsdóttir, the vice chair is Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson, and the general secretary is Björg Eva Erlendsdóttir. The Left-Green Movement is a member of the Nordic Green Left Alliance.

History

The party was founded in 1999 by members of Althing who did not approve of the merger of left-wing political parties in

which resulted in the formation of 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 ...

. In the 1999 Icelandic parliamentary election, the Left-Green Movement took 9.1% of the vote and six seats in the Althing. The party had five members in the 63-seat Icelandic parliament after the 2003 Icelandic parliamentary election, where it polled 8.8% of the vote. After the 2007 Icelandic parliamentary election, the party had 9 seats in parliament, having received 14.3% of the vote. After the 2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, the Left-Green Movement joined the first cabinet of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir as the minor partner to the

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 ...

after the previous coalition government of the Alliance and the

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

Independence Party collapsed. In the 2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, it rose from nine seats to 14. With this, it became Iceland's third-largest party (close behind the Independence Party) with 21.7% of the vote; this was the second largest outcome of a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social ...

party in Iceland after the post-communist People's Alliance in 1978, when it got 22.9% of the vote. The party gained one seat in addition, when a non-party parliamentarian joined the party. Later, three members of the parliamentary group have left the party. One joined the Nordic agrarian Progressive Party and two others became non-partisans. After the 2013 Icelandic parliamentary election, the party was in the opposition and had seven seats in the parliament. In the 2016 Icelandic parliamentary election, the party polled 15.9% of the vote and 10 seats in the Althing, becoming the second largest party, tied with the Pirates, after the Independence Party. However, after the collapse of the coalition government and snap parliamentary elections in 2017, the party increased its seats in parliament to 11 and became the second-largest party, forming a three-party coalition with the Independence Party and Progressive Party, and party chair Katrín Jakobsdóttir became the prime minister. The party lost three seats in the 2021 parliamentary elections, but stayed in government. After the 2021 parliamentary

election An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative d ...

, the new government was, just like the previous government, a tri-party coalition of the Independence Party, the Progressive Party and the Left-Green Movement, headed by Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir. Katrín stepped down as prime minister and party leader to run for

President of Iceland The president of Iceland () is the head of state of Iceland. The incumbent is Halla Tómasdóttir, who won the 2024 Icelandic presidential election, 2024 presidential election. The president is not involved in the running of the country, bu ...

in the 2024 election, which she lost, coming in second place after Halla Tómasdóttir. She was replaced as prime minister by the Independence Party's Bjarni Benediktsson. Guðmundur Ingi Guðbrandsson became the interim party leader after Katrín. He returned to his position as vice-chairperson when Svandís Svavarsdóttir was elected as the new party leader in October of 2024. On 13 October, Bjarni announced that the government had collapsed due to disputes over foreign policy, asylum seekers, and energy, prompting him to call for a parliamentary election in November. Four days after the announcement, the Left-Green Movement withdrew from the government. In the subsequent election, the Left-Green Movement lost all their seats.

Ideology

The Left-Green Movement focuses on

democratic socialist Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and workers' self-mana ...

values,

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, and

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

, as well as increased democracy and direct involvement of the people in the administration of the country. The party opposes Iceland's involvement in

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, and also the American invasion and occupation of

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. The party rejects membership of the European Union, and supports the Palestinian cause in the Middle East. It considers the mutual adaptation and integration of immigrants into Icelandic society as necessary.

Election results

Leadership

References

External links

Official website

at the Nordic Green Left Alliance website {{Authority control 1999 establishments in Iceland Political parties established in 1999 Eurosceptic parties in Iceland Left-wing parties Eco-socialist parties Environmentalism in Iceland Feminist political parties in Iceland Nordic Green Left Alliance Opposition to NATO Secularism in Iceland Socialist parties in Iceland Centre-left parties in Europe