Iceland became the first European country with a majority female parliament | They will have 33 seats out of a total of 63

Iceland Became the first European country to have a majority of women legislators during the formation of the new Parliament, according to the final election results published on Sunday.

The examination showed that 63 Althingi seats, 33 will be occupied by women, that it represents 52.3% of the hemicycle.

According to data collected by the World Bank, so far, no country in Europe has exceeded the 50 percent mark. Sweden was the country closest to parity with 47% of women parliamentarians, the AFP news agency reported.

Despite the fact that several parties reserve a minimum proportion of women among their own candidates, there is no law imposing a quota in legislatures in Iceland, according to the democratic organization International Idea.

According to information from the International Inter-Parliamentary Union, only five other countries currently have at least half as many women in their parliaments: Rwanda (61%), Cuba (53%), Nicaragua (51%), Mexico (50%) and United Arab Emirates (50%).

Iceland is a precursor country in feminist struggles. In 1975, it was the scene of a women’s strike to demand better wages and access to hierarchical positions, in order to break the so-called “glass ceiling”. The Nordic country too was the first to democratically elect a woman, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, as head of state in the 1980 elections.

Since 2018, Iceland has implemented pioneering pay equity law and topped the World Economic Forum’s rankings for gender equality for 12 consecutive years.

In the elections this Saturday 37 out of 63 seats were at stake, and the results strengthened the majority of the ruling left-right alliance for another four years.

However, the party of the left-wing prime minister, environmentalist Katrin Jakobsdóttir, has lost ground and is in a fragile position with only eight MPs.

Its two right-wing allies have strengthened and could form a coalition with other political parties.