Voters Want Young Representatives: Interview with Lenya Rún Taha Karim

Photo: Mandana Emad

Translation: Anna María Björnsdóttir

Lenya Rún Taha Karim has been in the spotlight following the recount that took place in the Northwestern constituency which changed the results of the 25 September parliamentary election. Lenya, who would have broken new ground by becoming the youngest member of parliament in the history of Iceland and the first Kurd in the Icelandic parliament, was one of the four candidates who lost their seat after the recount. The Student Paper sat down with Lenya and discussed the events of these last days. 

I mainly wanted to ask about the past few days, these have been very confusing days and a lot has happened. For how long were you the youngest MP in the history of Iceland?

I woke up at ten and noticed I had received a ton of messages. I think the final results of the first count had come at around half past nine and the results of the recount came at around six. So these were a good nine hours. Nine hours during which I didn’t get the chance to process anything. I just woke up to a bunch of phone calls from the media. I jumped from one interview to the next, then went to a meeting with the party and at that meeting I was notified of the recount, and that my position was precarious as an equalisation member (ís. jöfnunarmaður). I didn’t really get to be a member of parliament, sort of. Not as a working one at least. 

How did you feel during the hours before the recount results? Were you freaking out? 

I just thought about all of the things I had to do: Go to a meeting with the law department, resign my student housing and loans. Then I was getting ahead of myself, starting to draw up plans for the term and for the next few weeks because the plan was always to get an alternate member for the first weeks if I was elected, so I could finish my studies since I have so little left before graduation. Based on the reactions I got and all the votes the Píratar got because people wanted a young representative, I figured it wouldn’t work. People wanted a young person at parliament, and they wanted one now! I wanted to go straight to the next Student council meeting and hear what they were talking about so I could get it right away to parliament, to be a clear conduit and bridge the gap between the parliament and students.

Your phone is exploding and then all of a sudden it is revealed that you no longer have the seat. Do you remember what was your first thought? 

My first response was: “God damn it.” I was frustrated immediately, since I would have been able to do so many good things. But I don’t know, I wasn’t that shocked because I realised as soon as I heard about the recount that I was incredibly close as an equalisation member. I was very disappointed because I had received such an exceptionally good response. It wasn't necessarily due to my personal charisma and how terrific I am, rather it was because there is a great dearth of young people at parliament. This was also one for the history books: a person of foreign origin kicking Brynjar Níelsson out of parliament. I would have been able to speak for so many incredible groups. The women’s majority parliament, that was also such an unbelievable milestone that we were achieving all at once. It would have been historic and incredible, even though the government seems to be holding its course. There were so many big milestones. I am also very afraid that these groups that I would have been able to speak for won’t be given adequate representation. I find that to be terrible. 

Of course we don’t know how this is going to end but judging by the current situation, you are not in parliament and the women’s majority in parliament won’t be a reality. How will the future  be for you and what about serving as an alternate member of parliament? 

I am the first alternate MP and in November I’ll probably get in for a few weeks. It would have been incredibly empowering to have someone like me in parliament. The women’s majority parliament too. We aren’t only losing me, but parliament will also be without two astounding women. This is just such a sad situation. 

Do you believe things will turn around or is all hope lost? 

In all honesty, I don’t know. This situation has reached a point where nobody knows anything. So I of course am not in a position to say what is the most likely outcome given that I am a subject in  the case. That’s the reason I haven’t been talking about this because, it doesn’t matter what I say; I am not in a position to make decisions. I have to take that into account.

We might very well end up voting again? And this could change elections for good. 

Exactly. I also think this will lead to people being skeptical of democracy here. I am a bit curious as to how the turnout will be for the next elections. It could increase - or decrease, you never know. It has become quite hard for me to follow the news and now I kind of get them straight from the primary sources. I am also a law student and find this dynamic quite interesting in its own right, but like I said, I am at the center  of the whirlpool so it’s difficult for me to muster enough interest to follow the second-hand developments closely. 

But how have the last few days been? Have you been at home and waiting and hoping or trying to keep busy and think of something else? 

Yes, I have just been spending a great deal of time with the Píratar and I of course find this incredibly disheartening. But I have received such tremendous support and that’s truly what has kept me going, all of that support I have received from everyone. But I feel like I can’t be seen anywhere. I don’t quite know why but I got so much publicity both here, in Kurdistan and in the UK. And actually in Russia and Ukraine, though I am not really sure about why that should be so. I just want to tap out for a bit, precisely because people have begun asking for my personal opinions on the matter and I just don’t think it is appropriate for me to comment. But not knowing is difficult. 

This has of course sparked a whole lot of debate about our system after all that has been going on.

Yes, and I think this is a pretty clear example of how great the need for a new constitution is. I wasn’t necessarily on board with the new constitution at first, in particular due to the atmosphere in the Faculty of Law that seems to be unanimously against it. Now though, especially because of this constitutional confusion, the laws need to be clearer and distinctions need to be made in the constitution to clarify what is democratic and what is not.

And there is also the other broader uncertainty about the legitimacy of the elections, is it the new Parliament which is  going to decide if the elections were legitimate? 

It is probably this new Parliament, and most likely the one which was elected after the recount. This too, is  rather odd. It would also be equally odd if we who lost our seats this way should be the judges of this. I would probably not vote if it were to come to that. I just sincerely hope that people, and especially young people, won’t lose faith in democracy because of this. I hope that they will still vote. The first results showed us how each and every vote matters. There was a slim lead of  eight votes between me and Brynjar after the first count. It is so important that people go out and vote. 

I also have faith, no matter what, that with a new Parliament, students will be treated better. It’s about time. There has to be total re-evaluation of the Student Loan Fund 2023 and no matter whether I become an MP or an alternate MP, I am going to try and get these changes through. What I have learned from this campaign is also that we are still fighting for the same things that the Student council spoke about thirty years ago: To increase the income threshold, increase the minimal financial support and other subsidies. What kind of bullshit is that? Why do we need to live so miserably? This is such a big part of why I went into politics.