2008 Faroese general election

{{Infobox legislative election

| election_name = 2008 Faroese general election

| country = Faroe Islands

| previous_election = 2004

| next_election = 2011

| election_date = 19 January 2008

| leader1 = Høgni Hoydal

| party1 = Republic (Faroe Islands)

| last_election1 = 8

| seats1 = 8

| percentage1 = 23.3%

| leader2 = Kaj Leo Johannesen

| party2 = Union Party (Faroe Islands)

| last_election2 = 7

| seats2 = 7

| percentage2 = 21.0%

| leader3 = Jørgen Niclasen

| party3 = People's Party (Faroe Islands)

| last_election3 = 7

| seats3 = 7

| percentage3 = 20.1%

| leader4 = Jóannes Eidesgaard

| party4 = Social Democratic Party (Faroe Islands)

| last_election4 = 7

| seats4 = 6

| percentage4 = 19.3%

| leader5 = Jenis av Rana

| party5 = Centre Party (Faroe Islands)

| last_election5 = 2

| seats5 = 3

| percentage5 = 8.4%

| leader6 = Kári P. Højgaard

| party6 = Self-Government Party (Faroe Islands)

| last_election6 = 1

| seats6 = 2

| percentage6 = 7.2%

| title = Prime Minister

| posttitle = Prime Minister

| before_election = Jóannes Eidesgaard

| before_party = Social Democratic Party (Faroe Islands)

| after_election = Jóannes Eidesgaard

| after_party = Social Democratic Party (Faroe Islands)

}}{{Politics of the Faroe Islands}}

General elections were held in the Faroe Islands on 19 January 2008, the latest possible date. The Self-Government Party and the Centre Party gained a seat each while the Social Democratic Party lost a seat.[http://www.uf.fo/les_tidindi.asp?Id=52299 Nýggja løgtingið valt - stór útskifting og fleiri kvinnur] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208040613/http://www.uf.fo/les_tidindi.asp?Id=52299 |date=2008-02-08 }} Kringvarp Føroya, 20 January 2008 {{in lang|fo}}

It had been considered to amend the election law to hold the election two weeks later to pass a number of important bills before the election, but in the end the negotiations on this failed and the election was called on 2007-12-07.[http://www.norden.org/webb/news/news.asp?id=7455&lang=6 Faroese election]{{Dead link|date=May 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Norden, 10 December 2007[http://jp.dk/uknews/politics/article1194988.ece Faeroes to head to polls] The Copenhagen Post, 7 December 2007 Prior to this election, the electoral system was changed in 2007 from a system with seven multi-member constituencies, which had some elements of mixed member proportional voting, to a system with a single constituency for the whole country in order to reduce disproportionality.[http://electionresources.org/dk/fo/ Elections to the Faroese Løgting] Election Resources on the Internet

Prior to the election, the Social Democratic Party formed a centrist unionist government with the People's Party and the Union Party. After the elections, four days of negotiations saw a centre-left separatist government emerge; while the Social Democratic Party retained the PM's post, the strongly pro-independence Republic got the majority of ministerial posts (including the newly created post of foreign minister). The Centre Party also participated in the new government. Among the coalition agreement points was a plan to draft a constitution for the Faroe Islands, which would be approved in a referendum to be held in 2010.

The coalition broke up in mid-2008, however, and a government consisting of the parties governing before the 2008 election was sworn in on 26 September 2008, with Kaj Leo Johannesen as PM instead.{{Cite web |url=http://www.tinganes.fo/Default.aspx?ID=435&M=News&PID=1022&NewsID=1620 |title = New Coalition formed |access-date=2008-10-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524075557/http://www.tinganes.fo/Default.aspx?ID=435&M=News&PID=1022&NewsID=1620 |archive-date=2011-05-24 |url-status=dead }}