Joke Campaign Wins Election in Iceland

The city of Reykjavik, Iceland held an election, and the Best Party won. In a multi-party election, the Best Party took 34.7% of the vote, more than any other. That means the party founder, comedian Jon Gnarr is now mayor. Gnarr formed the party to satirize the political system. In his campaign, he promised a polar bear for the zoo and a drug-free Parliament (by 2020). He now leads a city of 320,000 120,000 people.

In his acceptance speech he tried to calm the fears of the other 65.3 percent. “No one has to be afraid of the Best Party,” he said, “because it is the best party. If it wasn’t, it would be called the Worst Party or the Bad Party. We would never work with a party like that.”

With his party having won 6 of the City Council’s 15 seats, Mr. Gnarr needed a coalition partner, but ruled out any party whose members had not seen all five seasons of “The Wire.”

Gnarr attributes the win to voters protesting the established parties. Link -via reddit

(Image credit: Hordur Sveinsson)