In Iceland, local elections were held on 29 May. They produced a surprise result.

In Reykjavík, a new party, Besti Flokkurinn (Best Party), which is a party that EU Observer calls a “comedy political party” and whose policies apparently include “a polar bear for the Reykjavik zoo, free towels at all swimming pools” etc., has become the largest party on the town council, winning 34.7% of the vote, just ahead of the Independence party. The Best Party will have 6 seats on the 15-seat council. Wikipedia provides the full results here. IceNews reports that the leader of the Best Party will become mayor after forming an alliance with the Social Democrats.

In terms of the national vote, Reykjavík Grapevine is reporting the following:

Independence Party – 37.4% (up from 23.7% in the 2009 parliamentary election, but down from 41.6% at the 2006 local election).
Social Democrats – 22.1% (down from about 30% at both the 2009 parliamentary election and the 2006 local election)
Progressive Party – 10.9% (down from 14.8% at the 2009 parliamentary election and 11.8% at the 2006 local election)
Left-Greens – 9.6% (down from 21.7% at the 2009 parliamentary election and 12.6% at the 2006 local election)

The rest of the votes seems to be going to the Best Party, other parties and independents, all of which did much better than four years ago.

The Social Democratic prime minister, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, described the results as a ‘shock’.