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Early parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 25 and 26 October 1959. Following the electoral reforms made after the June elections, the Independence Party won 16 of the 40 seats in the Lower House of the Althing.
Electoral reforms
The June 1959 elections had ended with both the Independence Party and the Progressive Party winning 13 seats, despite the IP receiving 42.5% of the vote to the PP's 27.2%. The electoral system involved a mix of single member constituencies, two-member constituencies elected using proportional representation (PR) and one large multi-member constituency for Reykjavík that also used PR.
The reforms saw the creation of eight multi-member constituencies elected using PR together with 11 compensatory seats. The number of seats for Reykjavík was also increased, increasing the overall total in the Lower House from 35 to 40 and in the Upper House from 17 to 20.