The Centre Party is a centristpopulistpolitical party in Iceland, established in September 2017. It split from the Progressive Party due to leadership disputes, when two factions decided to band up as a new party before the 2017 election. It has been described as "populist". The party proposes to reform the state's banking sector, maintain government ownership of Landsbankinn while reclaiming the state's stake in Arion Bank currently controlled by hedge funds, redistributing a third of its shares among Icelanders, but also to sell the government's existing stake in Íslandsbanki. The party supports scrapping indexation on debts and opposes the accession of Iceland to the European Union. At the inaugural meeting of the party in Reykjavik on 8 October, Sigmundur Davíð claimed that the party supported the best ideas of the left and right, emphasizing both the protection of individual rights and social security, while also focusing on regional issues in the same vein of the Northern Powerhouse in the UK and improving benefits for the elderly. The party also proposes to improve ferry services and construct a new university hospital. The party opposed legislation to expand abortion rights to the 22nd week of the pregnancy. The party opposed legislation to allow individuals to define their own gender in the eyes of the law. One of the party's members has called for teaching climate change denial views in public schools. According to a poll conducted by the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Iceland for Morgunblaðið in October 2017, the party draws nearly half its support from supporters of the Progressive Party in the 2016 election, with another quarter from the Independence Party and 13% from the liberal Reform Party and Bright Future. Sigmundur Davíð has traditionally attracted support due to his nationalist and populist views, though did not express such views during the 2017 campaign. In December 2018, a leaked recording captured four MPs of the Centre Party, including party leader Sigmundur Davíð, discussing women and a disabled woman in denigrating and sexually charged language.
