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Icelanders have NOT voted for EU membership - Telegraph Blogs
Let's look at those results, shall we? It's true that the Euro-sceptic Independence Party lost ground - hardly surprising since it has held power since the early 1990s, and presided over the recent collapse. None the less, it won 24 per cent of the vote and 16 seats. The chief beneficiary was not the pro-Brussels Social Democratic Alliance: its result (30 per cent of the vote and 20 seats) is in line with previous elections: it got 31 per cent in 2003, 27 per cent in 2007. No, the big winner was the anti-EU Left/Green Movement, which won 21.5 per cent of the vote (up from 14 per cent in 2007) and 14 MPs. The remaining seats were split between the Progressive Party, which traditionally represents farmers, and which tentatively favours exploratory talks with Brussels, but is by no means pro-accession (9 seats); and the Civil Movement, which wants more referendums and direct democracy, and but has no settled policy on EU membership (4 seats).
Let's look at those results, shall we? It's true that the Euro-sceptic Independence Party lost ground - hardly surprising since it has held power since the early 1990s, and presided over the recent collapse. None the less, it won 24 per cent of the vote and 16 seats. The chief beneficiary was not the pro-Brussels Social Democratic Alliance: its result (30 per cent of the vote and 20 seats) is in line with previous elections: it got 31 per cent in 2003, 27 per cent in 2007. No, the big winner was the anti-EU Left/Green Movement, which won 21.5 per cent of the vote (up from 14 per cent in 2007) and 14 MPs.
The remaining seats were split between the Progressive Party, which traditionally represents farmers, and which tentatively favours exploratory talks with Brussels, but is by no means pro-accession (9 seats); and the Civil Movement, which wants more referendums and direct democracy, and but has no settled policy on EU membership (4 seats).
Only 5 of the Left-Greens voted against. I couldn't find a complete voter breakdown, but, assuming that both abstainers were Left-Greens, it should be 20 SocDems, 7 Left-Greens, 1 Civil Movement, and 5 Progressive Party (or rebel IP) parlamentarians voting in favour. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
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