Incumbent party takes lead over upstart Pirates

REYKJAVIK, Iceland — Iceland looked likely to steer away from a Pirate takeover Sunday, as voters favored the incumbent Independence Party over the a new band of buccaneers advocating direct democracy and Internet freedom.

With roughly half the votes counted from Saturday’s election, the Independence Party had about 30 percent of ballots and the Pirate Party about 14 percent, putting them in third place behind the Left-Green movement.

It’s a worse result for the Pirates than some polls suggested and a better performance than predicted for the Independents, who have governed in a coalition since 2013.

Coalition governments are the norm in Iceland’s multiparty system. It was not immediately clear whether the Independents would be able to assemble a coalition with other centrist and right-wing parties — or whether the Pirates and other opposition forces would get the numbers to govern.

Saturday’s election was held amid widespread public discontent with Iceland’s traditional elites, with debate focusing on the economy and voters’ desire for political reform

It was called after the center-right prime minister resigned in April during public protests over his offshore holdings, revealed in the Panama Papers leak.

The tax-avoidance scandal outraged many Icelanders, who suffered years of economic upheaval after the country’s debt-swollen banks collapsed during the 2008 global financial crisis.

Founded four years ago by an assortment of hackers, political activists and Internet freedom advocates, the Pirate Party has seen support grow among Icelanders fed up with established parties after years of financial turmoil and political scandal.

Some polls had given the Pirates the support of a fifth of voters, potentially poised to become the biggest group in the volcanic island nation’s parliament, the Althingi.

The Pirates campaigned on promises to introduce direct democracy, subject the workings of government to more scrutiny and place the country’s natural resources under public ownership.

Frank Augstein / Associated Press A couple exit the town hall polling station after voting in Reykjavik, Iceland. The ruling Independence Party took the lead over challengers in parliamentary elections.