Faroese general election, 2015

1 September 2015

All 33 seats in the Løgting 17 seats were needed for a majority

Turnout	88.8%
	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Aksel V. Johannesen	Høgni Hoydal	Jørgen Niclasen
Party	Social Democratic	Republic	People's
Last election	6 seats, 17.8%	6 seats, 18.3%	8 seats, 22.5%
Seats before	5	6	9
Seats won	8	7	6
Seat change	3	1	3
Popular vote	8,093	6,691	6,102
Percentage	25.1%	20.7%	18.9%
Swing	7.3%	2.4%	3.6%

	Fourth party	Fifth party	Sixth party

Leader	Kaj Leo Johannesen	Poul Michelsen	Jenis av Rana
Party	Union	Progress	Centre
Last election	8 seats, 24.7%	2 seats, 6.3%	2 seats, 6.2%
Seats before	9	1	2
Seats won	6	2	2
Seat change	3	1
Popular vote	6,046	2,241	1,779
Percentage	18.7%	7.0%	5.5%
Swing	6.0%	0.7%	0.7%

	Seventh party

Leader	Jógvan Skorheim
Party	Self-Government
Last election	1 seat, 4.2%
Seats before	1
Seats won	2
Seat change	1
Popular vote	1,290
Percentage	4.1%
Swing	0.1%

Prime Minister before election

Kaj Leo Johannesen
Union

Prime Minister

Aksel V. Johannesen
Social Democratic

Faroe Islands

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General elections were held in the Faroe Islands on 1 September 2015.^[1] Elections for the Danish Folketing were held beforehand on 18 June.

Background

On 4 August 2015 the Løgting passed a motion that criticized Prime Minister Kaj Leo Johannesen and former Minister of the Interior Kári P. Højgaard,^[2] accusing Johannesen of lying to the Løgting in connection with a 1 million kroner break fee clause in the contract led by the Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners to build a sub-sea tunnel between Eysturoy and Streymoy.

Although Johannesen had previously told the Løgting that he had no part of the break fee, a judicial inquiry led by Hans Gammeltoft-Hansen (the Danish ombudsman from 1987 until 2012) confirmed in June 2015 that Johannesen had knowingly misled the Løgting on several occasions,^[3] thereby breaking the law.^[4]^[5] For some time not much happened, the Prime Minister refused to take any action but went on holiday for a month. The speaker of the Løgting refused to assemble parliament, which had no scheduled meeting before 29 July 2015.

On 29 July Johannesen gave his annual Ólavsøka speech to the Løgting, ending it by calling general elections. A week later on 4 August, the Løgting assembled to discuss the Johannesen's speech, as the law requires. All 33 members of the Løgting voted yes, including Højgaard. Republic and Progress then demanded a vote of no confidence in Johannesen, in which 14 MPs voted for the motion, 9 against it and 10 cast blank votes, short of the majority of 17 required to pass the motion. Only 9 of 20 MPs from Johannesen’s coalition chose to back him and voted against the motion,^[6] including six from his own party, the Speaker Jógvan á Lakjuni from the People's Party and the two MPs from the Centre Party. However, three Union Party MPs cast blank votes, including Deputy Chairman Bárður Nielsen, whilst People's Party chairman Jákup Mikkelsen voted for the motion.

Johannesen maintains that he did not lie, but only gave incorrect information to the Løgting.^[7]

Electoral system

The 33 members of the Løgting were elected by open list proportional representation in a single nationwide constituency with an electoral threshold of 3.03030%. Seats were allocated using to the d'Hondt method.^[8]

Opinion polls

Hustings in Trongisvágur on 25 August 2015; from left to right: Kári P. Højgaard (D), Jákup Suni Lauritsen (H), Kristin Michelsen (C), Páll á Reynatúgvu (E), Elsebeth Mercedis Gunnleygsdóttur (A), Hanna Jensen (F) and Magni Laksáfoss (B).

The ruling centre-right coalition led by Johannesen was consistently behind in the polls, while the Social Democrats led by Aksel Johannesen were well ahead. However, polls closer to election day showed a tightening race.

Vote

Date	Source	PP	UP	SP	NS	R	P	CP
31 August 2015	Gallup	18.2%	19.0%	22.9%	3.1%	19.4%	10.6%	6.8%
31 August 2015	Fynd	20.4%	19.2%	19.3%	5.9%	16.5%	11.2%	7.4%
28 August 2015	Fynd	20.8%	19.6%	21.3%	4.9%	18.0%	8.7%	6.7%
20 August 2015	Fynd	18.3%	21.1%	21.3%	4.2%	17.6%	11.7%	5.9%
6 August 2015	Fynd	18.6%	19.0%	23.0%	2.9%	20.2%	11.6%	4.7%
22 April 2015	Fynd	16.2%	19.7%	25.8%	4.3%	18.2%	11.0%	4.8%
6 March 2015	Fynd	18.9%	18.1%	26.5%	3.1%	21.3%	6.1%	5.8%
5 December 2014	Gallup	18.9%	17.4%	28.3%	3.2%	21.3%	5.4%	5.5%
6 November 2014	Fynd	20.1%	22.4%	25.8%	2.4%	21.1%	3.3%	4.8%
5–11 September 2013	Gallup	17.2%	22.1%	21.7%	4.5%	23.6%	5.7%	5.2%
2011 election results		22.5%	24.7%	17.7%	4.2%	18.3%	6.3%	6.2%

Seats

Date	Source	PP	UP	SP	NS	R	P	CP
31 August 2015	Gallup	6	6	8	1	6	4	2
31 August 2015	Fynd	7	6	6	2	5	4	3
28 August 2015	Fynd	7	6	7	2	6	3	2
20 August 2015	Fynd	6	7	7	1	6	4	2
6 August 2015	Fynd	6	6	8	0	7	4	2
20–21 April 2015	Fynd	5	6	9	1	6	4	2
6 March 2015	Fynd	6	6	9	1	7	2	2
5 December 2014	Gallup	6	6	9	1	7	2	2
6 November 2014	Fynd	7	7	9	0	7	1	2
5–11 September 2013	Gallup	6	7	7	1	8	2	2
2011 election results		8	8	6	1	6	2	2

Results

The opposition parties made a major comeback from the 2011 elections, with the Social Democratic Party and Republic gaining two and one seats respectively. Progress regained its second seat, which it lost in 2011 when Janus Rein left the party. Despite a small reduction in their vote share, New Self-Government gained one seat.

Party	Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
Social Democratic Party	8,093	25.1	+7.3	8	+2
Republic	6,691	20.7	+2.5	7	+1
People's Party	6,102	18.9	–3.6	6	–2
Union Party	6,046	18.7	–5.9	6	–2
Progress	2,241	7.0	+0.7	2	0
Centre Party	1,779	5.5	–0.7	2	0
New Self-Government	1,305	4.1	–0.1	2	+1
Invalid/blank votes	117	–	–	–	–
Total	32,374	100	0	33	0
Registered voters/turnout	36,458	88.8	+2.2	–	–
Source: KVF

Of the 117 void votes, 76 were blank and 41 invalid.^[9]

By region and polling district

Towns and settlements on the Faroes, the polling places Fossanes and Giljanes are schools and therefore not on the map.

There were 58 polling districts (down from 60 in 2011), of which 56 were towns and two (Giljanes and Fossanes) were schools. Giljanes was one of the two polling places on the western island of Vágar, while Fossanes is located on the Norðoyar. There were two polling places in the capital area; Tórshavn, which includes the suburbs of Hvítanes and Hoyvík, and the southern suburb Argir. The Vágar region includes the neighbouring island Mykines and the Sandoy region includes Skúvoy, while the rest of Streymoy includes the polling places on the islets Nólsoy and Hestur.

Area	People's Party		Union Party		Social Democratic Party		New Self-Government		Republic		Progress		Centre Party
Area	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%	Votes	%
National	6,102	18.9	6,046	18.7	8,093	25.1	1,305	4.1	6,691	20.7	2,241	7.0	1,779	5.5
Capital Area	1,655	13.5	1,769	14.4	3,322	27.0	248	2.0	3,179	25.8	1,451	11.8	678	5.5
Rest of Streymoy	338	15.8	372	17.3	591	27.6	65	3.0	490	22.8	192	9.0	97	4.5
Eysturoy	1,462	18.5	2,147	27.2	1,461	18.5	581	7.4	1,305	16.5	403	5.1	537	6.8
Klaksvík	1,040	32.4	499	15.6	705	22.0	276	8.6	456	14.2	66	2.1	166	5.2
Rest of Norðoyar	285	38.2	93	12.4	135	18.1	43	5.8	114	15.3	22	2.9	55	7.4
Suðuroy	566	18.1	480	15.4	1,335	42.7	29	0.9	574	18.4	26	0.8	116	3.7
Vágar	521	26.6	460	23.5	440	22.5	56	2.9	317	16.2	63	3.2	102	5.2
Sandoy	235	26.9	226	25.9	104	11.9	7	0.8	256	29.3	18	2.1	28	3.2
Argir	195	14.6	207	15.5	366	27.5	26	2.0	306	23.0	153	11.5	80	6.0
Árnafjørður	15	41.7	4	11.1	2	5.6	1	2.8	10	27.8	0	0.0	4	11.1
Dalur	3	11.1	2	7.4	20	74.1	0	0.0	2	7.4	0	0.0	0	0.0
Eiði	73	16.2	86	19.1	80	17.8	22	4.9	129	28.7	25	5.6	35	7.8
Elduvík	3	23.1	3	23.1	6	46.2	0	0.0	1	7.7	0	0.0	0	0.0
Fámjin	8	10.7	19	25.3	29	38.7	0	0.0	19	25.3	0	0.0	0	0.0
Fossanes	91	35.4	37	14.4	48	18.7	10	3.9	38	14.8	3	1.2	30	11.7
Fuglafjørður	211	21.4	220	22.3	260	26.3	18	1.8	204	20.7	45	4.6	29	2.9
Funningsfjørður	9	20.5	2	4.5	9	20.5	2	4.5	12	27.3	5	11.4	5	11.4
Funningur	7	16.7	6	14.3	10	23.8	7	16.7	7	16.7	3	7.1	2	4.8
Giljanes	328	25.9	291	23.0	280	22.2	42	3.3	220	17.4	42	3.3	61	4.8
Gjógv	8	29.6	6	22.2	2	7.4	0	0.0	8	29.6	0	0.0	3	11.1
Gøta	213	28.9	124	16.8	136	18.5	43	5.8	117	15.9	63	8.5	41	5.6
Haldórsvík	7	5.6	19	15.2	56	44.8	12	9.6	13	10.4	15	12.0	3	2.4
Haraldssund	7	15.9	5	11.4	7	15.9	2	4.5	18	40.9	5	11.4	0	0.0
Hattarvík	6	50.0	0	0.0	2	16.7	1	8.3	3	25.0	0	0.0	0	0.0
Hellurnar	0	0.0	4	30.8	5	38.5	1	7.7	3	23.1	0	0.0	0	0.0
Hestur	1	6.7	3	20.0	6	40.0	0	0.0	4	26.7	0	0.0	1	6.7
Hósvík	21	10.1	38	18.4	67	32.4	8	3.9	39	18.8	21	10.1	13	6.3
Hov	8	11.3	14	19.7	38	53.5	2	2.8	7	9.9	1	1.4	1	1.4
Húsar	1	2.9	10	29.4	14	41.2	1	2.9	4	11.8	4	11.8	0	0.0
Húsavík	33	55.0	13	21.7	5	8.3	0	0.0	7	11.7	2	3.3	0	0.0
Hvalba	145	34.4	76	18.1	122	29.0	3	0.7	53	12.6	4	1.0	18	4.3
Hvalvík	65	21.2	72	23.5	75	24.5	9	2.9	48	15.7	20	6.5	17	5.6
Kaldbak	42	27.1	13	8.4	21	13.5	9	5.8	41	26.5	11	7.1	18	11.6
Kirkja	4	17.4	6	26.1	1	4.3	10	43.5	1	4.3	0	0.0	1	4.3
Kollafjørður	132	21.7	111	18.2	168	27.6	11	1.8	122	20.0	41	6.7	24	3.9
Kunoy	3	6.4	4	8.5	17	36.2	5	10.6	15	31.9	1	2.1	2	4.3
Kvívík	31	8.9	76	21.8	103	29.5	10	2.9	87	24.9	34	9.7	8	2.3
Leirvík	125	22.4	110	19.7	120	21.5	19	3.4	110	19.7	37	6.6	37	6.6
Lopra	21	29.6	7	9.9	19	26.8	0	0.0	15	21.1	1	1.4	8	11.3
Mikladalur	11	34.4	0	0.0	4	12.5	2	6.3	12	37.5	1	3.1	2	6.3
Mykines	2	18.2	4	36.4	1	9.1	1	9.1	3	27.3	0	0.0	0	0.0
Nólsoy	19	13.6	14	10.0	39	27.9	1	0.7	38	27.1	23	16.4	6	4.3
Oyndarfjørður	12	11.4	28	26.7	23	21.9	8	7.6	21	20.0	8	7.6	5	4.8
Oyrarbakki	42	11.5	126	34.6	91	25.0	16	4.4	56	15.4	29	8.0	4	1.1
Porkeri	43	19.6	28	12.8	101	46.1	2	0.9	22	10.0	1	0.5	22	10.0
Runavík	355	19.5	528	29.1	215	11.8	306	16.9	159	8.8	58	3.2	195	10.7
Sandur	146	40.1	29	8.0	33	9.1	2	0.5	143	39.3	6	1.6	5	1.4
Sandvík	12	18.2	8	12.1	26	39.4	1	1.5	17	25.8	2	3.0	0	0.0
Skálabotnur	3	4.6	7	10.8	14	21.5	1	1.5	29	44.6	1	1.5	10	15.4
Skálavík	21	22.3	22	23.4	20	21.3	1	1.1	27	28.7	2	2.1	1	1.1
Skáli	58	13.5	119	27.7	104	24.2	36	8.4	64	14.9	15	3.5	34	7.9
Skopun	28	9.5	146	49.3	24	8.1	3	1.0	67	22.6	6	2.0	22	7.4
Skúvoy	4	12.1	14	42.4	2	6.1	1	3.0	10	39.3	2	6.1	0	0.0
Strendur	74	12.1	224	36.5	110	17.9	43	7.0	73	11.9	22	3.6	68	11.1
Sumba	17	10.0	20	11.8	70	41.2	5	2.9	56	32.9	0	0.0	2	1.2
Svínoy	8	38.1	3	14.3	2	9.5	1	4.8	6	28.6	0	0.0	1	4.8
Sørvágur	191	27.9	165	24.1	159	23.2	13	1.9	94	13.7	21	3.1	41	6.0
Tjørnuvík	2	3.9	6	11.8	23	45.1	4	7.8	11	21.6	3	5.9	2	3.9
Toftir	123	15.5	352	44.5	95	12.0	53	6.7	89	11.3	31	3.9	48	6.1
Tórshavn	1,460	13.3	1,562	14.2	2,956	26.9	222	2.0	2,873	26.2	1,298	11.8	598	5.5
Tvøroyri	168	14.5	111	9.6	669	57.6	12	1.0	150	12.9	12	1.0	39	3.4
Vágur	144	16.5	197	22.6	261	29.9	4	0.5	235	26.9	5	0.6	25	3.0
Velbastaður	18	9.6	20	10.6	33	17.6	1	0.5	87	46.3	24	12.8	5	2.7
Vestmanna	146	17.4	202	24.0	181	21.5	6	0.7	223	26.5	61	7.3	21	2.5
Viðareiði	139	57.7	24	10.0	38	15.8	10	4.1	7	2.9	8	3.3	15	6.2
Source: KVF

References

↑ Samuelsen, Ingi (29 July 2015). "Løgtingsval 1. september" (in Faroese). Portal.fo. Retrieved 29 July 2015.
↑ Uppskot um misálit á løgmann fall KVF, 4 August 2015
↑ in.fo - Ein hjálpandi hond til løgtingið in.fo, 23 June 2015
↑ Uppskot um misálitisváttan Norðlysið, 4 August 2015
↑ To færøske toppolitikere brød lov i kontroversiel tunnelsag Business, 25 June 2015
↑ Soleiðis atkvøddu tingfólk um løgmann (Således stemte lagtingsmedlemmer om lagmanden) in.fo, 4 August 2015
↑ Løgmaður : Eg havi ikki logið (Lagmanden: Jeg har ikke løjet) Portal.fo, 24 June 2015
↑ Elections to the Faroese Løgting Election Resources
↑ Løgtingsval 1. september 2015 KVF

Elections and referendums in the Faroe Islands

Løgting elections	1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1943 1945 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1970 1974 1978 1980 1984 1988 1990 1994 1998 2002 2004 2008 2011 2015

Folketing elections	1920 (Apr) 1920 (Jul) 1920 (Sep) 1924 1926 1929 1932 1935 1939 1943 1945 1947 1950 1953 (Apr) 1953 (Sep) 1957 1960 1964 1966 1968 1971 1973 1975 1977 1979 1981 1984 1987 1988 1990 1994 1998 2001 2005 2007 2011 2015

Referendums	1907 1946 1973 2009

See also: Elections and referendums in Denmark Elections and referendums in Greenland

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