Founded 1916 Ideology Social democracy | Dissolved May 2000 Colours Red | |
Merged into Social Democratic Alliance International affiliation Socialist International | ||
The Social Democratic Party (Icelandic: Alþýðuflokkurinn, lit. People's Party) was a social-democratic political party in Iceland. It was founded in 1916 as the political representation of the trade unions of Iceland.
Its first member of the Althing, the Icelandic parliament, was Jón Baldvinsson, who was elected in 1920.
The party was a member of the Labour and Socialist International between 1926 and 1940.
Three times the party led the government of Iceland; in 1947-1949 under Stefán Jóhann Stefánsson, in 1958-1959 under Emil Jónsson and under Benedikt Sigurðsson Gröndal in 1979-1980. Its longest participation in government was with the Independence Party from 1959-1971.
The Social Democratic Party was succeeded in 2000 by the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin), a centre-left party with a wider political base created by the merger of the Social Democratic Party with the People's Alliance, Women's List and National Awakening.