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| This article is part of a series on the politics and government of the Faroe Islands |
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General elections were held in the Faroe Islands on 19 January 2008, the latest possible date. The Self-Government Party and the Centre Party gained a seat each while the Social Democratic Party lost a seat. The number of women went from three to seven. [1]
The Faroe Islands, or the Faeroe Islands—a North Atlantic archipelago located 200 miles (320 km) north-northwest of the United Kingdom and about halfway between Norway and Iceland—are an autonomous country of the Kingdom of Denmark. Total area is about 1,400 square kilometres (540 sq mi) with a population of 50,322 in October 2017.
The Centre Party is a Christian-democratic and conservative political party on the Faroe Islands, led by Jenis av Rana. The party is known for its traditionalist stance on social issues, in particular on LGBT rights and homosexuality in general.
The Social Democratic Party is a social-democratic political party in the Faroe Islands, led by Aksel V. Johannesen.
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It had been considered to amend the election law to hold the election two weeks later to pass a number of important bills before the election, but in the end the negotiations on this failed and the election was called on 2007-12-07. [2] [3] Prior to this election, the electoral system was changed in 2007 from a constituency-based d'Hondt proportional representation (with seven multi-member constituencies), which had some elements of mixed member proportional voting, to a nationwide d'Hondt based proportional system to reduce disproportionality. [4]
The D'Hondt method or the Jefferson method is a highest averages method for allocating seats, and is thus a type of party-list proportional representation. The method described is named in the United States after Thomas Jefferson, who introduced the method for proportional allocation of seats in the United States House of Representatives in 1791, and in Europe after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt, who described it in 1878 for proportional allocation of parliamentary seats to the parties. There are two forms: closed list and an open list.
Proportional representation (PR) characterizes electoral systems in which divisions in an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. If n% of the electorate support a particular political party, then roughly n% of seats will be won by that party. The essence of such systems is that all votes contribute to the result - not just a plurality, or a bare majority. The most prevalent forms of proportional representation all require the use of multiple-member voting districts, as it is not possible to fill a single seat in a proportional manner. In fact, the implementations of PR that achieve the highest levels of proportionality tend to include districts with large numbers of seats.
Prior to the election, the Social Democratic Party formed a centrist unionist government with the People's Party and the Union Party. After the elections, four days of negotiations saw a centre-left separatist government emerge; while the Social Democratic Party retained the PM's post, the strongly pro-independence Republic got the majority of ministerial posts (including the newly created post of foreign minister). The Centre Party also participated in the new government. Among the coalition agreement points was a plan to draft a constitution for the Faroe Islands, which would be approved in a referendum to be held in 2010.
The Faroese People's Party – Radical Self-Government is a pro-Faroese independence conservative and conservative-liberal political party in the Faroe Islands, led by Jørgen Niclasen. One of the four major parties, it has had eight seats in the Løgting since the 2011 election, making it the joint-largest party, but it has neither of the Faroes' seats in the Folketing.
The Union Party is a conservative-liberal and agrarian political party in the Faroe Islands. The party wants to maintain the Faroe Islands union with Denmark. On 24 October 2015 Bárður á Steig Nielsen succeeded Kaj Leo Johannesen as party leader.
Republic, formerly known as the Republican Party is a left-wing political party in the Faroe Islands committed to Faroese independence.
The coalition broke up in mid-2008, however, and a government consisting of the parties governing before the 2008 election was sworn in on 26 September 2008, with Kaj Leo Johannesen as PM instead. [5]
Kaj Leo Holm Johannesen is a Faroese politician. He was the prime minister of the Faroe Islands, representing the Faroese Unionist Party (Sambandsflokkurin). He took office, succeeding Jóannes Eidesgaard on 26 September 2008 and left office on 15 September 2015, after his party and coalition with Fólkaflokkurin and Miðflokkurin lost the general election on 1 September 2015. Johannesen is also a former international football player; he was goalkeeper for the Faroe Islands national football team.
