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Iceland: Political Parties

Last modified: 2021-10-23 by christopher oehler
Keywords: iceland | nesskip | independence party | sjalfstæðisflokkurinn | pirates | pationalist party |
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Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn)

[Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn), Iceland] by H.M.

The falcon symbol which the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn), founded in 1923, with the unifying of the Conservatives and Liberals (which were very small) and is the biggest party with around 45 % of the vote. 
H.M., 7 December 2002


Nationalist Party (Flokkur Þjóðernissinna)

[Pirates] 
image by Tomislav Todorović, 06 April 2013

[Pirates] 
image by Tomislav Todorović, 06 April 2013

Nationalist Party (Flokkur Þjóðernissinna) was founded in 1934 by fusion of the Icelandic Nationalist Movement (Þjóðhreyfing Íslendinga), founded in 1933, and the original Nationalist Party, which had broken away from it earlier in 1934. The party believed in the Aryan supremacy and anti-Semitism and intended to make Iceland a Corporativist state, but unlike most of similar parties in other European countries, it never developed personality cult of a supreme leader, having had four consecutive heads during its existence. The members, whose number never exceeded 450, were mostly passivized by the beginning of World War II. In 1940, British invasion of Iceland made many leave the party, begin destroying the objects related to their membership and even start denying that they have ever been the members. The party was officially disbanded in 1944 when the war outcome became obvious. In Iceland today, ancestors' membership in the Nationalist Party is still a matter of embarrassment to the people, many descendants having destroyed the relics which had not already been destroyed by the members themselves. Very few objects, including the party flags, have been saved by a small number of collectors  who are interested in this period of Icelandic history.
Nationalist Party used two different flags in national colors. First flag was derived either from the then national flag, by replacing the red cross with a swastika in same color, or by adding the swastika to the 19th-century proposal from which the national flag was derived in 1915, which had no red cross at all. The swastika was placed on a rotated white square with edges parallel to the swastika arms, which was conjoined with the cross into a single charge. Second flag had a typical Nazi design, with red swastika on a white disk in center of blue field.
Sources:
[1] Nationalist Party at Wikipedia.
[2] Gentleman's Military Interest Club - topic about the Nationalist Party (includes numerous color and b/w photos of the flags, some displaying erroneously oriented swastika).
[3] FOTW website - Iceland flag history:
Tomislav Todorović, 06 April 2013


Pirates (Píratar)

[Pirates] 
image by Tomislav Todorović, 31 March 2013

Pirates (Icelandic: Píratar) is the official name of the Pirate Party of Iceland. It was founded in 2012 and currently has one seat in the Parliament. Party flag is purple, charged with the logo: white disk with black border, charged with a black sail on the mast, shaped so as to resemble letter P and additionally charged with a white stockfish. This last symbol was borrowed from the Coat of Arms of Iceland which was used since 16th century until 1903. Its choice as the national distinctive mark was probably made due to its maritime symbolism, which makes an additional, although indirect connection with the original pirates.
Sources:
[1] Wikipedia page about the Pirates (in icelandic):
[2] Wikipedia page about the Coat of Arms of Iceland:
[3] Heraldry of the World website - Coat of Arms of Iceland:
[4] Pirates at Facebook - photo of party flag:
[5] Pirates at Facebook - photo of party flag:
[6] Pirates at Facebook - photo of party flag:
[7] Pirates at Facebook - photo of Icelandic and German Pirate Parties' flags:
[8] Pirates at Facebook - photo of Icelandic and German Pirate Parties' flags:
Flag image isderived from the image of party logo from Wikipedia.
Shade of purple is chosen after numerous examples of party Web graphics which employ it, from the galleries at Facebook which also contain the photos listed above as the sources. This shade seems to be a good representation of the real-life color.
Tomislav Todorović, 31 March 2013

You've listed the pirates  as having 1 MP seat when we actually have 3 as can be seen here.
Jason, 30 March 2015

Tomislav Todorović wrote the original contribution on 31 March 2013. At that time this party had only one MP (Birgitta Jónsdóttir) in the Icelandic parliament.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icelandic_parliamentary_election,_2013#Incumbent_parliament
The elections held on 27 April 2013, when they won three seats, so Tomislav's data was right when he wrote his article,
Zoltan Horvath, 30 March 2015