1874 Icelandic parliamentary election

The 30 elected members of the Althing were elected from single or double member constituencies by a three-round system; in the first two rounds, a candidate receiving a majority of the vote was elected; if seats were still unfilled after the second round, a third round was held using first-past-the-post voting.^[3] Voting took place at a single polling place in each constituency and was done publicly.^[3] A further six members were appointed to the upper house by the Danish monarch.^[2]

Suffrage was limited to men aged 25 or over who were not in receipt of poor relief and who met one of several set requirements including being a civil servant, being a graduate of a university or seminary, or meeting various tax criteria (for farmers, paying more than the minimum tax; for burghers or fishermen, paying eight króna of local taxes; for property owners, paying twelve króna of local property taxes).^[2] This limited the number of voters to 6,183 from a population of 70,595.^[4]

1,211 of the 6,183 registered voters participated in the elections.^[4] All candidates were independents, as there were no political parties in Iceland at the time.^[3]