Reykjavík South (Althing constituency)

In March 1843 King Christian VIII of Denmark issued a royal decree converting the Althing into a consultative assembly. It consisted to 20 members popularly elected from single-member constituencies, one of which was Reykjavík.^[2][3] In the subsequent decades the electoral process, size of Althing and constituencies changed several time. Reykjavík became a two-member constituency in 1903 (effective 1904).^[4] In 1920 (effective 1923) it became a four-member constituency using proportional representation.^[5] It became a six-member constituency in 1934 and an eight-member constituency in 1942.^[5][6]

One of the main reasons for the changes was the shift in population from rural to urban areas, particularly Reykjavík.^[2] The changes however always lagged behind population shifts.^[2] This resulted in rural constituencies being over-represented in the Althing. The disproportionately in the voting power of rural and urban voters was as high as 10:1 by the mid 20th century.^[2] The over-representation of rural constituencies favoured the Progressive Party, whose support base was mostly farmers.^[2] The party was over-represented in Althing even after the introduction of compensatory seats (equalisation seas) in 1934.

The constituencies were radically altered in 1959 when the single and two-member constituencies were abolished and replaced by seven multi-member constituencies using proportional representation.^[2][6] The number of seats allocated to Reykjavík was increased from 8 to 12 at the same time.^[2] This reduced the disproportionately in the voting power of rural and urban voters to 3:1.^[2]

In September 1997 Prime Minister Davíð Oddsson appointed a committee headed by Friðrik Klemenz Sophusson to review the division of constituencies in Iceland and the organisation of elections. The committee's report was published in October 1998 and recommended, amongst other things, that the number of constituencies be reduced and that they be more equal in population size.^[7] The Althing passed an amendment to the constitution in June 1999 which removed the reference to specific eight constituencies contained within Article 31 and instead simply stated that there would be six or seven constituencies and that the Althing would determine the boundaries between the constituencies.^[8] The amendment also required that if, following an election to Althing, the number of registered electors per seat (including compensatory seats) in any constituency is less than half of that in another constituency, the National Electoral Commission shall change the allocation of seats so as to reduce the imbalance.^[8] This reduced the disproportionately in the voting power of rural and urban voters to 2:1.

Reykjavík South was one of six constituencies (kjördæmi) established by the "Elections to the Althing Act no. 24/2000" (Lög um kosningar til Alþingis, nr. 24/2000) passed by the Althing in May 2000.^[9] The Act required that, when an election to Althing had been called, the National Electoral Commission had to determine the boundaries between the Reykjavík South and Reykjavík North constituencies so that the number of registered electors per seat (including compensatory seats) is approximately the same.^[9] The Act initially allocated eleven seats to the constituency - nine constituency seats and two compensatory seats.^[9]

Reykjavík South currently elects nine^[a] of the 63 members of the Althing using the open party-list proportional representation electoral system.^[10][11] Constituency seats are allocated using the D'Hondt method.^[12][13] Compensatory seats (equalisation seas) are calculated based on the national vote and are allocated using the D'Hondt method at the constituency level.^[14][15] Only parties that reach the 5% national threshold compete for compensatory seats.^[13][16]