Icelanders opted for stability in a general election, results showed on Sunday, with the anti-establishment Pirate Party falling short of expectations and the junior partner in the outgoing government emerging on top. With voters still angered by the 2008 financial crisis and the naming of several government figures in an offshore tax haven scandal this year, Icelanders looked to oust the center-right coalition in its current form. The biggest group, the Progressive Party, lost more than half its share of the vote in Saturday's election after Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigned following revelations in the "Panama Papers" scandal. But the Pirate Party, founded by a group of Internet activists, failed to perform as well as opinion polls had indicated. While its share of the vote tripled from the last election in 2013, it came in only third with 15 percent. Instead, voters appeared to have recognized efforts to stabilize the economy after its 2008 collapse. The center-right Independence Party, which shared power in the outgoing government, won the largest share of the vote with 29 percent. No party has won an outright majority and President Gudni Johannesson has yet to hand the mandate to the party that will be tasked with forming the next government. Poet Birgitta Jonsdottir, who leads the Pirate Party, said she was happy with the result. "Our internal predictions showed 10 to 15 percent, so this is at the top of the range. We knew that we would never get 30 percent," she said. Supporters of the broader pirate movement from 15 countries, along with ex-campaign workers for former US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, had visited Reykjavik to back the Icelandic party, hoping that it would have a shot at forming the next government and deal another blow to mainstream politicians. Both the Independence Party and the Pirate Party, whose founders call themselves "hacktivists", have so far ruled out working together, though this could change during negotiations in the days to come. The Left-Greens came second with 16 percent. — Reuters
