Alliance (Iceland)

The Alliance (Samfylkingin) is a political party in Iceland. It is social democratic and the main opposition party. It was born before the parliamentary elections in 1999 after a merger of the four left wing parties that existed in Iceland before that time: the Social Democratic Party (Alþýðuflokkurinn), the People's Alliance (Alþýðubandalagið), the Womens's Alliance (Samtök um kvennalista) and the National Movement (Þjóðvaki). This was a deliberate attempt to unify the entire centre-left of Icelandic politics into one party to become a balance against the right wing Independence Party. This attempt failed as a group of Alþingi representatives did not approve of the agenda this new party was to follow, similar to the agenda of Tony Blair's Labour Party. They left before the merger and founded the Left-Green Movement (Vinstrihreyfingin - grænt framboð), based on more traditional left values and environmental issues.

The current chairman of the party is Össur Skarphéðinsson, MP.

Vice chairman is the former mayor of Reykjavík, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir

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