The Progressive Party also made gains, and the new Citizens' Movement, formed after the January 2009 protests, won four seats.

The big loser was the Independence Party, which had been in power for 18 years until January 2009; it lost nine seats as its vote share was reduced by around a third, meaning it was not the most voted-for party for the first time since 1937 There had been weekly protests in front of the Althing since the collapse of Iceland's three commercial banks in October 2008.

[3] Three days later, Prime Minister Geir Haarde of the Independence Party announced that he was withdrawing from politics for health reasons (he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer), and promised early elections for 9 May.

However, the Independence Party wished to retain the Prime Minister's post, which proved unacceptable to their coalition partners the Social Democratic Alliance: the government collapsed on 26 January 2009.

[4] After consultations with all the political parties represented in the Althing, the President asked the Social Democratic Alliance to form a new government.

[8] There was no agreement on the question of an early referendum on prospective EU membership, an issue which divided the coalition partners.

Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson was elected party chairman on 18 January 2009, despite not being a member of the Althing at the time.

[11] Independence Party chairman Geir Haarde announced his retirement from politics on 23 January 2009, revealing that he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer which required urgent treatment.

[12][13] The party also proposed to call for two referendums on the EU – one on starting entry talks (which could be held by summer 2010), and another on membership after negotiations are over.

[14] Social Democrat leader Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir had also been unwell since September 2008 with a benign brain tumour which had kept her out of the public eye for much of the financial crisis.

Although initially she had planned to remain in control of the party while fellow Social Democrat Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir served as prime minister,[15] Ingibjörg Sólrún announced on 8 March 2009 that she could not guarantee that her health was good enough to continue to serve the public.

A third new party, L-List of Sovereignty Supporters (L-listi fullveldissinna), withdrew its candidacy on 3 April.

So if a party has won two seats in a constituency, then the voter is only allowed to re-rank the top four ranked candidates on the list, with any rank altering by voters below this line simply being ignored when subsequently calculating the candidate vote shares within each party.