The New Orangalist Party (TNO) narrowly loses out on the governorship of the Icelandic region of Meercovo, with only a few thousand votes between the TNO and the Orange Democratic Union.
The initial exit poll released after voting ended projected, contrary to recent opinion polls, that TNO would secure 51% of the vote to the ODU's 49%. With Gail Lester of TNO running again and providing a strong opposition to the scandal embroiled Rasheed Sanook of the ODU.
However, the North West Constituency, which has become a focal point of this election, announced their results at 4am GMT, and announced that 72% of their votes had gone to Mr Sanook, despite the anger at his poor response to the volcanic eruption just a few months ago.
Election turnout was higher in ODU regions, but was lower in TNO regions. 17 million Meercovians cast their ballot, compared to 16 million in the first round, and 13 million in 2018.
The final results were:
The TNO secured 5 of the 9 constituencies, while the ODU took 4, compared to winning 6 in 2018.
However, the huge 15% swing to TNO in the first round of voting did not materialise in the second round. In fact, the North West constituency was won by the ODU with a bigger margin than in 2018.
Yet with just 21,000 votes between Sanook and Lester, some in Meercovo are calling for a recount in Southern Iceland, where the margin of victory was under 1%. If it appears that TNO took more votes here than previously expected, the result could flip upside down.
However, with the ODU controlling the Parliament of Iceland and of Meercovo, recounts would probably not get support.
TNO made huge strides in the major urban areas, however low turnout meant that the TNO was set back slightly. The Capital region saw a 17% swing to TNO, but in the crucial North West Constituency, the ODU took a 20% swing. This election was clearly a re-alignment of the party lines, with Iceland now split directly down the centre with TNO on one side, and the ODU on the other.
High turnout in the Westfjords, North West and North East constituencies favoured the ODU which pulled away with high vote shares.
ONN said that this election was a test of the policies of Patec, the WM, and it appears that in Iceland, they have come off very well. TNO increased its vote share from 27% in 2018 to 49% today, while the ODU fell from 58% to just over 50%.
The swing of 15% which took place in this election was enough to turn two constituencies red, but not enough to turn the whole of Iceland, which narrowly remains blue.
All eyes are now centred on the WM election taking place next month.