REYKJAVIK – Icelandic voters have joined a global trend of punishing incumbent presidents by a parliamentary electionwith a center-left party winning the largest share of votes in the North Atlantic island nation.

With all votes counted on Sunday, the Social Democratic Alliance won 15 of the 63 seats in the Althingi parliament – more than double its total – and received almost 21% of the vote, according to the broadcaster. RUV national television. The conservative Independence Party, which led the outgoing government, had 14 seats and a vote share of 19.4%, and the centrist Liberal Reform Party had 11 seats and around 16% of the vote.

Three other parties also won seats. Social Democratic leader Kristrún Mjöll Frostadóttir, 36, will likely try to seek coalition partners to secure a parliamentary majority.

Icelanders voted on Saturday after disagreements over immigration, energy policy and the economy forced Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson to end his coalition government and call early elections.

Counting was delayed in some areas due to snowstorms that blocked roads and slowed the delivery of ballot boxes to counting centers.

Since the 2008 financial crisis devastated the economy and ushered in a new era of political instability, Iceland has been governed by multi-party coalitions of different stripes.

Like many Western countries, Iceland has been rocked by rising costs of living and pressure from immigration, and voters are lashing out at existing governments. Benediktsson’s Independence Party and its coalition partners in the outgoing government, the Progressive Party and the left-wing Greens, all saw their vote share and number of seats decline, with the left-wing Greens losing their eight parliamentary seats .

Iceland, a volcanic island nation nestled below the Arctic Circle with a population of less than 400,000, is proud of its democratic traditions. The Althingi, founded in 930 by Viking settlers, is arguably the oldest legislature in the world.

Voter turnout was high by international standards, with 80% of registered voters voting.