I’m a big fan of Iceland, which has one of the richest political and literary histories in the West. So this story from the Washington Post caught my eye:

Iceland heralded a weekend election result that would have made it the first country in Europe to have more women than men in parliament. But the celebrations were brief: A late recount put it just below gender parity.

Early results showed women won 33 seats in Iceland’s 63-seat parliament, known as the Althing, up from 24 in the previous vote. Hours later, a surprise recount in the west of the country changed the outcome, leaving female candidates with 30 seats, according to state broadcaster RUV.

That is still the highest representation for women in Europe, at nearly 48 percent, ahead of Sweden and Finland with 47 percent and 46 percent, respectively.

“The female victory remains the big story of these elections,” politics professor Olafur Hardarson told the state broadcaster after the recount.