# Jón Gnarr's Best Party Wins Reykjavík (29 May 2010)

URL: https://allhistories.com/iceland/timeline/2010-jon-gnarr-s-best-party-wins-reykjavik
Location: Reykjavík, Iceland
Themes: Key Events

Disillusionment with established parties after the crash created space for protest movements. In late 2009 the comedian and actor Jón Gnarr founded the Best Party (Besti flokkurinn) as a satire of politics, promising free towels at swimming pools, a polar bear for the zoo and a drug-free parliament by 2020, and openly promising to break its promises. In the municipal election of 29 May 2010 the Best Party won 34.7 per cent of the vote and six of the fifteen seats on Reykjavík City Council, the largest share of any party. It formed a coalition with the Social Democratic Alliance, and on 15 June 2010 Jón Gnarr became Mayor of Reykjavík, governing the capital of about 120,000 people, roughly a third of the nation. Many of the Best Party's councillors were musicians, artists and others with no political background. Gnarr served a full four-year term, was known for appearing in drag at Reykjavík Pride and for championing human rights, and did not stand again in 2014. The Best Party's success was widely reported abroad as a symbol of Iceland's post-crash anger and creativity, and its successor, Bright Future, entered the Althing in 2013.

## Why it matters
The Best Party's victory was a striking expression of voter revolt against the political establishment after the crash.

Ruler at the Time: [Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson](https://allhistories.com/iceland/rulers/olafur-ragnar-grimsson)

Prime Minister of Iceland: Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir (Social Democratic Alliance)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Best Party](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Best_Party)
- [Reykjavík City](https://reykjavik.is/en)
- [BBC News](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news)
- [Wikipedia — Crisis And Recovery (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008%E2%80%932011_Icelandic_financial_crisis)