Words by

Andie Sophia Fontaine

Photo by

Bjarni Brynjólfsson

Municipal elections tend to attract more immigrant candidates than parliamentary elections. This might be because foreigners who aren’t yet citizens can actually vote in these elections, or because we immigrants tend to feel more loyalty towards our immediate communities than the country as a whole, or because they comprise over 14% of Reykjavík’s population, slightly greater than the national average of about 12%.

Whatever the reasons, there are a number of immigrants running for various political parties in Reykjavík this month, some here much longer than others. Below, we’ve listed which parties have which immigrant candidates, and where they appear on the party’s list for Reykjavík’s 23-seat City Council. Bear in mind that due to the limited numbers of seats, and the many parties running with varying polling levels of possible success, only those immigrants in 5th seat and above in well-polling parties stand any kind of chance of being voted in. These key immigrant candidates have been italicised.

The home pages of each party are linked as well; some of whom (but not all) have pages in English, Polish, and other languages.

Social Democrats:
Sabine Leskopf, 5th seat.

Left-Greens:
René Biasone, 5th seat.
Ewelina Osmialowska, 12th seat.
Guy Conan Stewart, 27th seat.
Toshiki Toma, 31st seat.

Pirate Party:
Elsa Nore, 10th seat.

Independence Party:
Alexander Witold Bogdanski, 10th seat.

Reform Party:
Pawel Bartoszek, 2nd seat.*

The Women’s Movement
Nazanin Askari, 3rd seat.
Nichole Leigh Mosty, 24th seat.

Socialist Party:
Anna Maria Wojtynska, 3rd seat.
Klaudia Janina Migdal, 8th seat.
Kristbjörg Eva Andersen Ramos, 12th seat.
Ella Esther Routley, 17th seat.
Herianty Novita Seiler, 21st seat.
Kurt Alan Van Meter, 26th seat.
Luciano Dutra, 28th seat.

Capital City List:
Phiang­p­hit Thip­hak­di, 16th seat.
Chelco San­kovik, 25th seat.
Leó Sankovik, 27th seat.
Georg Sankovik, 28th seat.
Zi­at­ko Kriekic, 37th seat.
Zhit­ho Habic, 39th seat.
Au­djelka Kricic, 42nd seat.
Elsa Zan­kovic, 45th seat.

Freedom Party:
None.

Icelandic National Front:
None.

Progressive Party:
None.

Centre Party:
None.

People’s Party:
None.

*Pawel, though born in Poland, has been living in Iceland for the vast majority of his life, and is an Icelandic citizen.