Iceland elects Europe’s first female majority parliament

COPENHAGEN, Sept 26 (Reuters) - Iceland’s ruling left-right coalition strengthened its majority after a national election that for the first time saw more women than men elected to a European parliament, final results showed on Sunday.

Opinion polls had forecast the coalition would fall short of a majority but a surge in support for the centre-right Progressive Party, which won five more seats than in 2017, pushed its total count to 37 seats in the 63-seat parliament, according to state broadcaster RUV.

Voters in Iceland elected 33 women to parliament, up from 24 in the last election. Iceland was ranked the most gender-equal country in the world for the 12th year running in a World Economic Forum (WEF) report released in March.

As of last year, only three other countries - Rwanda, Cuba and United Arab Emirates - had more women than men in parliament, according to data compiled by the World Bank.