Faroe Islands go blue…and there are fewer women in the new parliament

Only 8 women were elected in the 2019 general election, down from 11 in 2015.

6 of them represent left-wing parties, while the other two represent conservative, right-wing parties.

Sirið Stenberg, Bjørt Samuelsen, Kristina Háfoss, Beinta Løwe and Hervør Pállsdóttir were elected for Tjóðveldi (The Republican Party), while Ingilín D. Strøm was elected for the Javnaðarflokkurin (The Social Democratic Party).

Elsebeth Mercedis Gunnleygsdóttur and Rósa Samuelsen were elected for Fólkaflokkurin (The People‘s Party) and Sambandsflokkurin (The Unionist Party), respectively.

There are 33 seats in the Faroese parliament, of which 24.4 percent will held by women in the next four years.

The Faroese parliament last Saturday turned blue as the centre-left coalition lost its combined majority amid an increase in support for conservative, right-wing parties.

Governing parties Javnaðarflokkurin (The Social Democratic Party) and Tjóðveldi (The Republican Party) lost one seat each, while opposition party Fólkaflokkurin (The People‘s Party) gained two seats. Fellow opposition party Sambandsflokkurin (The Union Party) gained one seat.

Read more: Conservative opposition wins big in Saturday’s elections – but all hope is not lost for governing parties

Read more: Immigrants account for more than 3 percent of the Faroese population…but only ONE of them is running for a place in the parliament

Read more: ‘It’s a Man’s World’ – Fewer than one in three candidates for Faroese parliament are women