No candidates registered in several Faroese towns ahead of parliamentary election

Several of the Faroe Islands’ larger towns will have no local candidates in the upcoming parliamentary election, public broadcaster Kringvarp Føroya reports.

A total of 160 candidates are running in the election, but none are registered as residents in Hvalba, Kvívík, Sumba, or Viðareiði—towns with populations ranging from 333 to over 600. The majority of candidates, 74 in total, reside in the capital area of Tórshavn (Havn), Hoyvík, and Argir, with one additional candidate in Hvítanes.

Hvalba Municipality, which includes Hvalba, Nes, and Sandvík, has a combined population of 628 but no registered candidates. Viðareiði Municipality (population 333) and Sumba Municipality also lack local candidates, though one candidate from Sumba’s Økra area is running. Kvívík, with over 400 residents, has no candidates from the town itself, though one is registered in the nearby Stykkið area.

The decline in candidate numbers has been steady since the Faroe Islands became a single electoral district in 2008. In 1998, 272 candidates ran, compared to just 160 this year—a drop of over 41 percent, according to election data from valurslit.fo.