2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2008–2009: Protests and Government change
Concerned with the state of the Icelandic economy, Hörður Torfason staged a one-man protest in October 2008. Torfason stood "out on Austurvöllur with an open microphone and invited people to speak". The following Saturday a more organised demonstration occurred, and participants established the Raddir fólksins. The group decided to stage a rally every Saturday until the government stepped down. Torfason led the protest from a stage near the front.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2008–2009: Protests and Government change
Speakers, voices of the people (Icelandic: Raddir fólksins) were: Andri Snær Magnason, author; Arndís Björnsdóttir, teacher; Björn Þorsteinsson, philosopher; Dagný Dimmblá, student; Einar Már Guðmundsson, writer; Gerður Kristný, writer; Gerður Pálmadóttir, business woman; Guðmundur Gunnarsson, president of RSÍ; Halldóra Guðrún Ísleifsdóttir, teacher, artist, and graphic designer; Hörður Torfason, musician and trubator; Illugi Jökulsson, author; Jón Hreiðar Erlendsson; Katrín Oddsdóttir, lawyer; Kristín Helga Gunnarsdóttir, author; Kristín Tómasdóttir, health consultant; Lárus Páll Birgisson, orderly; Lilja Mósesdóttir, economist; Pétur Tyrfingsson, psychologist; Ragnheiður Gestsdóttir, author; Ragnhildur Sigurðardóttir, historian; Sigurbjörg Árnadóttir, journalist; Sindri Viðarsson, historian; Stefán Jónsson, teacher and theatre director; Viðar Þorsteinsson, philosopher; Þorvaldur Gylfason, economist; Þráinn Bertelsson, author. Formal address by Ernesto Ordiss, and Óskar Ástþórsson, kindergarten teacher. Impromptu speakers were Birgir Þórarinsson, Sturla Jónsson, and Kolfinna Baldvinsdóttir.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2008–2009: Protests and Government change
The protests were a feature of the traditional New Year's Eve comedy revue, Áramótaskaupið, in 2008. The sketches included one of Jón Gnarr playing a strait-laced middle-aged protester struggling to express his indignation at the crisis and eventually coming up with a sign reading Helvítis fokking fokk!! This phrase soon came to be used in real-life placards and wider discourses surrounding the protests.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2008–2009: Protests and Government change
On 20 January 2009, the protests intensified into riots. Between 1,000 and 2,000 people clashed with riot police, who used pepper spray and batons, around the building of the parliament (Althing), with at least 20 people being arrested and 20 more needing medical attention for exposure to pepper spray. Demonstrators banged pots and honked horns to disrupt the year's first meeting of Prime Minister Geir Haarde and the Althing. Some broke windows of the parliament house, threw skyr and snowballs at the building, and threw smoke bombs into its backyard. The use of pots and pans saw the local press refer to the event as the "Kitchenware Revolution".


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2008–2009: Protests and Government change
On 21 January 2009, the protests continued in Reykjavík, where the Prime Minister's car was pelted with snowballs, eggs and cans by demonstrators demanding his resignation. Government buildings were surrounded by a crowd of at least 3,000 people, pelting them with paint and eggs, and the crowd then moved towards the Althing where one demonstrator climbed the walls and put up a sign that read "Treason due to recklessness is still treason." No arrests were reported.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2008–2009: Protests and Government change
On 22 January 2009, police used tear gas to disperse people on Austurvöllur (the square in front of the Althing), the first such use since the 1949 anti-NATO protest. Around 2,000 protesters had surrounded the building since the day before and they hurled fireworks, shoes, toilet paper, rocks, and paving stones at the building and its police guard. Reykjavík police chief Stefán Eiríksson said that they tried to disperse a "hard core" of a "few hundred" with pepper spray before using the tear gas. Stefán also commented that the protests were expected to continue, and that this represented a new situation for Iceland.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2008–2009: Protests and Government change
Despite the announcement on 23 January 2009 of early Parliamentary elections (to be held on 25 April 2009) and the announcement of Prime Minister Geir Haarde that he was withdrawing from politics due to esophageal cancer and would not be a candidate in those elections, protesters continued to fill the streets, calling for a new political scene and for immediate elections; Haarde (Independence Party) announced on 26 January 2009 that he would hand in his resignation as PM shortly, after talks with the Social Democratic Alliance on keeping the government intact had failed earlier the same day.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2008–2009: Protests and Government change
The Social Democratic Alliance formed a new government on minority coalition with the Left-Green Movement, with the support of the Progressive Party and the Liberal Party, which was sworn in on 1 February. Former Social Affairs Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became Prime Minister. The three parties also agree to convene a constitutional assembly to discuss changes to the Constitution. There was no agreement on the question of an early referendum on prospective EU and euro membership.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2008–2009: Protests and Government change
The parliamentary election was held in Iceland on 25 April 2009 following strong pressure from the public as a result of the Icelandic financial crisis. The Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Movement, which formed the outgoing coalition government under Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, both made gains and an overall majority of seats in the Althing (Iceland's parliament). The Progressive Party also made gains, and the new Citizens' Movement, formed after the January 2009 protests, gained four seats. The big loser was the Independence Party, which had been in power for 18 years until January 2009: it lost a third of its support and nine seats in the Althing.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2009–2010: Citizen forums and Constitutional changing
Taking its cue from nationwide protests and lobbying efforts by civil organisations, the new governing parties decided that Iceland's citizens should be involved in creating a new constitution and started to debate a bill on 4 November 2009 about that purpose. Parallel to the protests and parliament deliverance, citizens started to unite in grassroots-based think-tanks. A National Forum was organised on 14 November 2009 (Icelandic: Þjóðfundur 2009), in the form of an assembly of Icelandic citizens at the Laugardalshöll in Reykjavík, by a group of grassroots citizen movements such as Anthill. The Forum would settle the ground for the 2011 Constitutional Assembly and was streamed via the Internet to the public.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2009–2010: Citizen forums and Constitutional changing
1,500 people were invited to participate in the assembly; of these, 1,200 were chosen at random from the national registry, while 300 were representatives of companies, institutions and other groups. Participants represented a cross section of Icelandic society, ranging in age from 18 to 88 and spanning all six constituencies of Iceland, with 73, 77, 89, 365 and 621 people attending from the Northwest Constituency, Northeast Constituency, South Constituency, Southwest Constituency and Reykjavík (combined), respectively; 47% of the attendants were women, while 53% were men.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2009–2010: Citizen forums and Constitutional changing
On 16 June 2010 the Constitutional Act was accepted by parliament and a new Forum was summoned. The Constitutional Act prescribed that the participants of the Forum had to be randomly sampled from the National Population Register, "with due regard to a reasonable distribution of participants across the country and an equal division between genders, to the extent possible".


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2009–2010: Citizen forums and Constitutional changing
The National Forum 2010 was initiated by the government on 6 November 2010 and had 950 random participants, organized in subcommisions, which would present a 700-page document that would be the basis for constitutional changes, which would debate a future Constitutional Assembly. The Forum 2010 came into being due to the efforts of both governing parties and the Anthill group. A seven-headed Constitutional Committee, appointed by the parliament, was charged with the supervision of the forum and the presentation of its results, while the organization and facilitation of the National Forum 2010 was done by the Anthill group that had organized the first Forum 2009.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2010–2011: Constitutional Assembly and Council
The process continued in the election of 25 people of no political affiliation on 27 November 2010. The Supreme Court of Iceland later invalidated the results of the election on 25 January 2011 following complaints about several faults in how the election was conducted, but the Parliament decided that it was the way, and not the elects, that had been questioned, and also that those 25 elects would be a part of a Constitutional Council and thus the Constitutional change went on. On 29 July 2011 the draft was presented to the Parliament.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Chronology, 2012: Referendum on the new Constitution
After the draft of the Constitution was presented on 29 July 2011, the Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament, finally agreed in a vote on 24 May 2012, with 35 in favor and 15 against, to organize an advisory referendum on the Constitutional Council's proposal for a new constitution no later than 20 October 2012. The only opposing parliament members were the former governing right party, the Independence Party. Also a proposed referendum on discontinuing the accession talks with the European Union by some parliamentaries of the governing left coalition was rejected, with 34 votes against and 25 in favour.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Banking debt referenda
There were several referenda to decide about the Icesave Icelandic bank debts. The first Icesave referendum (Icelandic: Þjóðaratkvæðagreiðsla um Icesave), was held on 6 March 2010. The referendum was resoundingly defeated, with 93% voting against and less than 2% in favor.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Banking debt referenda
After the referendum, new negotiations commenced. On 16 February 2011 the Icelandic parliament agreed to a repayment deal to pay back the full amount starting in 2016, finalising before 2046, with a fixed interest rate of 3%. The Icelandic president once again refused to sign the new deal on 20 February, calling for a new referendum. Thus, a second referendum was held on 9 April 2011 also resulting in "no" victory with a lesser percentage. After the referendum failed to pass, the British and Dutch governments said that they would take the case to the European courts.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, PM trial
The Althing (Iceland's parliament) voted 33–30 to indict the former Prime Minister Geir Haarde, but not the other ministers, on charges of negligence in office at a session on 28 September 2010. He would stand trial before the Landsdómur, a special court to hear cases alleging misconduct in government office: it will be the first time the Landsdómur has convened since it was established in the 1905 Constitution.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, PM trial
The trial began in Reykjavík on 5 March 2012. Geir Haarde was found guilty on one of four charges on 23 April 2012, for not holding cabinet meetings on important state matters. Landsdómur said Mr. Haarde would face no punishment, as this was a minor offence and the Icelandic State was ordered to pay all his legal expenses. Mr. Haarde decided, as a matter of principle, to refer the whole case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg where it was eventually dismissed.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Commentary
Roger Boyes of The Times argued the protests were part of a "new age of rebellion and riot" in Europe, in the background of similar protests caused by the financial crisis in Latvia, Bulgaria and the civil unrest in Greece, triggered by the police killing a teenager, but with deeper roots related to the financial crisis.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Commentary
London School of Economics professor Robert Wade said that Iceland's government would fall within the coming days and Fredrik Erixon of the Brussels-based European Centre for International Political Economy compared the current situation with the French Revolution of 1789.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Commentary
Eirikur Bergmann, an Icelandic political scientist, wrote in The Guardian that "While Barack Obama was being sworn into office on Capitol Hill yesterday, the people of Iceland were starting the first revolution in the history of the republic. The word "revolution" might sound a bit of an overstatement, but given the calm temperament that usually prevails in Icelandic politics, the unfolding events represent, at the very least, a revolution in political activism." Valur Gunnarsson, also of The Guardian, writes that "Iceland's government was last night scrambling to avoid becoming the first administration to be ousted by the global financial crisis." He also writes that "The protesters have begun referring to their daily attempt to oust the government as a 'saucepan revolution', because of the noise-inducing pots and pans brought along to the protests."


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Commentary
Eva Heiða Önnudóttir studied the demography of the protesters to see whether participants in the Austurvöllur protests came from groups with greater histories of political participation and greater access to political resources than non-participants, but found that this was not a determining factor: rather, participants were simply more likely to have a direct personal incentive to protest.


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Commentary
Writing in the wake of the 2013 Icelandic parliamentary election, which returned to power the parties most closely associated with Iceland's banking boom, Gísli Pálsson and E. Paul Durrenberger concluded that


2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests, Commentary
While the grassroots movement that overthrew the government after the crash remains disillusioned and disappointed, its impact should not be under-estimated. One important development in its wake, and an important emerging theme for further research, is a series of experiments with direct democracy and social media. Soon after the crash, a crowd-sourcing company drew upon social media to prepare for a National Meeting (Þjóðfundur) of 1,000 participants for outlining a new constitution. While the end result of this work remains unclear, and much depends on the formal, indirect democracy of the Parliament, it seems safe to say that the public has been sensitized to new avenues for democracy and alerted to potential signs of corruption.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election
Snap parliamentary elections were held in Iceland on 25 April 2009, following strong pressure from the public as a result of the Icelandic financial crisis. The Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Movement, which formed the outgoing coalition government under Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, both made gains and formed an overall majority of seats in the Althing (Iceland's parliament). The Progressive Party also made gains, and the new Citizens' Movement, formed after the January 2009 protests, gained four seats. The big loser was the Independence Party, which had been in power for 18 years until January 2009: it lost a third of its support and nine seats in the Althing.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Background
There had been weekly protests in front of the Althing since the collapse of Iceland's three commercial banks in October 2008. These protests intensified with the return of the Althing from Christmas recess on 20 January 2009. Three days later, Prime Minister Geir Haarde of the Independence Party announced that he was withdrawing from politics for health reasons (he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer), and promised early elections for 9 May. However, the Independence Party wished to retain the Prime Minister's post, which proved unacceptable to their coalition partners the Social Democratic Alliance: the government collapsed on 26 January 2009.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Background
After consultations with all the political parties represented in the Althing, the President asked the Social Democratic Alliance to form a new government. This proved to be a minority coalition with the Left-Green Movement, with the support of the Progressive Party and the Liberal Party, which was sworn in on 1 February. Former Social Affairs Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir became Prime Minister.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Background
The date of the elections was one of the agreements between the coalition partners. The Social Democrats preferred 9 May, while the Left-Greens wanted elections in early April: the intermediate position of the Progressive Party, 25 April, was adopted. The three parties also agree to convene a constitutional assembly to discuss changes to the Constitution. There was no agreement on the question of an early referendum on prospective EU membership, an issue which divided the coalition partners.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Background, Parties
The Progressive Party was the first of the historic parties to change leadership after the 2008 financial crisis, when Guðni Ágústsson resigned as both party leader and Althing member on 17 November 2008. Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson was elected party chairman on 18 January 2009, despite not being a member of the Althing at the time. One of Sigmundur Davíð's first actions as party leader was to call for early elections and to offer the support of the party's seven Althing members to an interim coalition of the Social Democratic Alliance and the Left-Green Movement.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Background, Parties
Independence Party chairman Geir Haarde announced his retirement from politics on 23 January 2009, revealing that he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer which required urgent treatment. He was succeeded by Bjarni Benediktsson at the party's convention on 29 March 2009. The party also proposed to call for two referendums on the EU – one on starting entry talks (which could be held by summer 2010), and another on membership after negotiations are over.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Background, Parties
Social Democrat leader Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir had also been unwell since September 2008 with a benign brain tumour which had kept her out of the public eye for much of the financial crisis. Although initially she had planned to remain in control of the party while fellow Social Democrat Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir served as Prime Minister, Ingibjörg Sólrún announced on 8 March 2009 that she could not guarantee that her health was good enough to  continue to serve the public.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Background, Parties
Jóhanna had previously stated she did not want to become party leader, but changed her mind in mid-March and announced she would stand for party leadership, citing strong encouragement from many party members as the reason. She was elected, as expected, with a strong majority of 97% of the vote at the party congress of 27–29 March 2009.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Background, Parties
Two new parties were formed in the aftermath of the January protests: the Citizens' Movement (Borgarahreyfingin) and the Democratic Movement (Lýðræðishreyfingin). Both contested all six constituencies in the 2009 elections. A third new party, L-List of Sovereignty Supporters (L-listi fullveldissinna), withdrew its candidacy on 3 April. The Icelandic Movement – Living Land (Íslandshreyfingin – lifandi land), which had unsuccessfully contested the 2007 election on a green platform, merged into the Social Democratic Alliance at the March 2009 party congress.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Background, Campaign
Just a week before the election, the Independence Party announced that its party committee on Europe had decided to call for steps to adopt the euro as Iceland's currency (with the help of the IMF). Shortly before the election, Johanna Sigurðardóttir stated that her priority, if returned to government, would be EU membership (she stated she was certain that there would be an agreement with the Left-Green Movement on EU membership), and she predicted that Iceland would adopt the euro within four years. (see Iceland and the European Union).


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies
There are 6 constituencies in Iceland. According to the Law on Parliamentary Elections (nr.24/2000), each constituency is granted 9 seats decided by proportional voting in the constituency, and finally 9 special Leveling seats (either 1 or 2 per constituency, depending on their population size) will work to adjust the result, so that proportionality is also ensured according to the overall number of party votes at the national level.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies
The number of constituency seats shall however be adjusted ahead of the next election, if the fraction of residents with suffrage per available seat in the constituency became more than twice as big in the latest election, when comparing the constituency with the highest fraction against the one with the lowest fraction. In that case a constituency seat shall travel from the constituency with the lowest figure to the one with the highest figure, until the result of the equation comply with the rule. However, the total number of seats (including leveling seats) must never become less than six in any constituency. The box below display the number of available seats in each constituency at the 2009 parliamentary election.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies, Method for apportionment of constituency seats
The available constituency seats are first distributed to each party according to the D'Hondt method, so that proportional representation is ensured within each of the constituencies. The next step is to apportion these party distributed seats to the candidates within the party having the highest "vote score", after counting both direct candidate votes and their share of party votes in the constituency.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies, Method for apportionment of constituency seats
In Iceland the "candidate vote system" is that, for each constituency, each party provides a pre-ranked list of candidates beneath each party name (listed according to the preferred order decided by the party), but where the voters voting for the party can alter this pre-ranked order by renumbering the individual candidates and/or crossing out those candidates they do not like, so that such candidates will not get a share of the voter's "personal vote" for the party.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies, Method for apportionment of constituency seats
As a restriction on the possibility of re-ranking candidates, it is however only possible to alter the first several candidates on the list. The borderline for alterations is drawn for the first three candidates if the party only win one of the total seats in the constituency, or if more than one seat is won the borderline shall be drawn at the pre-ranked number equal to twice the total number of seats being won by the party in the constituency.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies, Method for apportionment of constituency seats
So if a party has won two seats in a constituency, then the voter is only allowed to re-rank the top four ranked candidates on the list, with any rank altering by voters below this line simply being ignored when subsequently calculating the candidate vote shares within each party. Final calculation of the candidate vote shares is always done according to the Borda method, where all candidates above the previously described borderline in the ranking are granted voting fraction values according to the voters noted rank.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies, Method for apportionment of constituency seats
If the number of considered candidates consist of four (as in the given example), then the first ranked candidate is assigned a value of 1 (a so-called full personal vote), the next one get the value 0.75 (1/4 less), followed likewise by 0.50 and 0.25 respectively for the two last candidates. If the number of considered candidates instead had been six (due to winning 3 seats), then the first ranked candidate in a similar way would be assigned a value of 1 (a so-called full personal vote), with the following five candidates receiving respectively 5/6, 4/6, 3/6, 2/6 and 1/6.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies, Method for apportionment of constituency seats
As mentioned above, crossed out names will always be allocated a 0.00 value. The accumulated total score of the candidates voting fractions, will be used in determining which candidates receive the seats won by their party.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies, Method for apportionment of constituency seats
Note that candidate vote scores are not directly comparable to candidates from other parties, as how many seats are being won in a constituency by a particular party will effect how their candidates receive voting fractions (like in the above examples, where a candidate ranked number four for a party winning two seats would receive a voting fraction of 0.25, compared to 0.50 for an equally ranked candidate belonging to a party winning 3 seats)


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies, Method for apportionment of leveling seats
After the initial apportionment of constituency seats, all the parties that exceed the election threshold of 5% nationally will also qualify to potentially be granted the extra leveling seats, which seek to adjust the result towards seat proportionality at the national level.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies, Method for apportionment of leveling seats
The calculation procedure for the distribution of leveling seats is, first, for each party having exceeded the national threshold of 5%, to calculate the ratio of its total number of votes at the national level divided by the sum of one extra seat added to the number of seats the party have so far won. The first leveling seat will go to the party with the highest ratio of votes per seat. The same calculation process is then repeated, until all 9 leveling seats have been allocated to specific parties.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies, Method for apportionment of leveling seats
A party's "votes per seat" ratio will change during this calculation process, after each additional leveling seat being won. The second and final step is for each party being granted a leveling seat to pin point, across all constituencies, which of its runner-up candidates (candidates that came short of winning direct election through a constituency seat) should then win this additional seat.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies, Method for apportionment of leveling seats
This selection is made by first identifying the constituency having the strongest "relative constituency vote shares for this additional seat of the party", which is decided by another proportional calculation, where the "relative vote share for the party list in each constituency", is divided with the sum of "one extra seat added to the number of already won constituency seats by the party list in the constituency".


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies, Method for apportionment of leveling seats
When this strongest constituency has been identified, the leveling seat will be automatically granted to the highest placed unelected runner-up candidate on the party list in this constituency, who among the remaining candidates have the highest personal vote score (the same figure as the one used when ranking candidates for constituency seats).


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Constituencies, Method for apportionment of leveling seats
The above described method is used for apportionment of all the party allocated leveling seats. Note that when selecting which of a party's constituencies shall receive its apportioned leveling seat, this identification may only happen in exactly the same numerical order as the leveling seats were calculated at the party level. This is important because the number of available leveling seats are limited per constituency, meaning that the last calculated leveling seats in all circumstances can never be granted to candidates who belong to constituencies where the available leveling seats already were granted to other parties.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Results, MPs
For the parties having qualified with a national result above the 5% election threshold, the 9 leveling seats (L1-L9) were first distributed party-wise according to the calculation method in this particular order (where the party's total number of national votes was divided by the sum of "won seats plus 1" - with an extra leveling seat granted to the party with the highest fraction - while repeating this process until all 9 leveling seats had been determined).


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Results, MPs
At the next step, these leveling seats were then by the same order distributed one by one to the relative strongest constituency of the seat winning party (while disregarding the constituencies that already ran out of vacant leveling seats). At the third step, the specific leveling seat is finally granted to the party's highest ranked runner-up candidate within the constituency, according to the same accumulated candidate vote score as being used when apportioning the constituency seats.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Results, MPs
The table below display how the leveling seats were apportioned, and the "relative constituency strength" figures for each party, which is measured for each constituency as the "party vote share" divided by "won constituency seats of the party +1". To illustrate how the selection method works, each party in a constituency being apportioned a leveling seat, have got their figure for relative strength (vote share per seat) bolded in the table, with a parenthesis noting the number of the leveling seat.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Results, MPs
Due to the fact that constituencies run out of available leveling seats one by one as the calculation progress, it can sometimes happen that the constituency with the highest relative strength needs to be disregarded.


2009 Icelandic parliamentary election, Results, MPs
In example, if there had been no restrictions to the available number of leveling seats in a constituency, then the table below would have distributed the Left-Green Movement's L3-seat to its relative strongest South Constituency with an 8.5574% vote share per seat; But as the one and only leveling seat of this constituency had already been granted to the Citizens Movement (who won the L1-seat), then the L3-seat instead had to be granted only to the second strongest constituency of the Left-Green Movement - namely the Reykjavik North constituency with an 8.0028% vote share per seat.


2009 Idaho Vandals football team
The 2009 Idaho Vandals American football team represented the University of Idaho during the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Vandals, led by third-year head coach Robb Akey, were members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and played their home games at the Kibbie Dome, an indoor facility on campus in Moscow, Idaho.


2009 Idaho Vandals football team
By winning seven games, the Vandals achieved a winning record for the first time since 1999 and were bowl eligible for the first time since 1998. The Vandals won six of their first seven games in 2009, but lost four of five WAC games to finish 7–5 in the regular season and placed fourth (4–4) in the nine-team WAC.


2009 Idaho Vandals football team
They were invited to the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, in which they defeated the Bowling Green Falcons (7–5) of the MAC on December 30, by a score of 43–42. This was the Vandals' second bowl invitation since returning to Division I-A (FBS) in 1996; Idaho won the 1998 Humanitarian Bowl.


2009 Idaho Vandals football team, Schedule
Idaho's home attendance in 2009 was 75,273 for six games, an average of 12,545 per game. The maximum was 16,000 for the Colorado State game on October 3,the minimum was 8,532 for the Utah State game on November 28, two days after Thanksgiving.


2009 If Stockholm Open
The 2009 If Stockholm Open was a men's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 41st edition of the event known that year as the If Stockholm Open, and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 Series of the 2009 ATP World Tour. It was held at the Kungliga tennishallen in Stockholm, Sweden, from 17 October through 25 October 2009. Unseeded Marcos Baghdatis won the singles title.


2009 If Stockholm Open, ATP entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2009 If Stockholm Open, Finals, Doubles
Bruno Soares /  Kevin Ullyett defeated  Simon Aspelin /  Paul Hanley, 6–4, 7–6(7–4)


2009 If Stockholm Open – Doubles
Jonas Björkman and Kevin Ullyett were the defending champion, but Björkman was retired in November 2008.Ullyett partnered up with Bruno Soares, and they won in the final 6–4, 7–6(7–4) against Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley.


2009 If Stockholm Open – Singles
David Nalbandian was the defending champion, but did not defend his title due to a hip injury. Marcos Baghdatis won in the final 6–1, 7–5 against Olivier Rochus.


2009 Illinois Fighting Illini football team
The 2009 Illinois Fighting Illini football team represented the University of Illinois during the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team's head football coach was Ron Zook. The Illini played their home games at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. This was Ron Zook's fifth season as the Illini head coach. The Illini finished the season 3–9 (2–6 Big Ten).


2009 Illinois Fighting Illini football team
The Illini failed to live up to the lofty preseason expectations, receiving almost enough votes in the AP Poll to be ranked (and were said to be the unofficial #26 ranked team in the AP Poll because of this), and even were considered a dark horse candidate for the Big Ten championship.


2009 Illinois Fighting Illini football team
But after their blowout loss to Missouri, they failed to receive any votes, and failed to show any improvement until the Michigan State game, which followed blowout losses to Penn State and Ohio State, but by late in the season, they were able to upset Michigan and Minnesota while also giving Cincinnati a game.


2009 Illinois State Redbirds football team
The 2009 Illinois State Redbirds football team represented Illinois State University in the 2009 NCAA Division I FCS football season. They were led by first-year head coach Brock Spack and played their home games at Hancock Stadium. Illinois State was a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference. The Redbirds finished the season with an 6–5 record overall and a 5–3 record in conference play.


2009 Illinois's 5th congressional district special election
A special election was held in Illinois's 5th congressional district in 2009 to fill the seat vacated by Rahm Emanuel. On April 7, Democratic nominee Michael Quigley defeated Republican nominee Rosanna Pulido and Green nominee Matt Reichel. Quigley was sworn in on April 21 and served out the congressional term.


2009 Illinois's 5th congressional district special election
Emanuel officially resigned from the House of Representatives, effective January 2, in a letter to his constituents and Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Emanuel was named White House Chief of Staff by incoming President-elect Barack Obama. Emanuel was first elected to Congress from Illinois's 5th congressional district in 2002. His resignation followed being re-elected to a fourth term.


2009 Illinois's 5th congressional district special election
The governor's office announced that a special primary election would be held on March 3 and special general election would be held on April 7. State law requires the governor to set a date for a congressional special election within five days of a vacancy being created. State law mandates that a general election must be held within 115 days of the vacancy. In an effort to cut costs and help save money, the date of the special general election coincided with municipal elections scheduled in Chicago, Cook County, and surrounding metropolitan areas.


2009 Illinois's 5th congressional district special election
There were 24 candidates representing three political parties in the March 3 special primary election. The Democrats had 13 candidates; the Republicans had six candidates; and the Greens had five candidates.


2009 Illinois's 5th congressional district special election
Quigley, a 50-year-old Cook County commissioner, won the Democratic Party's primary with 22% of the vote. He defeated a strong field of Democrats, including state representatives John Fritchey (District 11) and Sara Feigenholtz (District 12), physician Victor Forys, and Chicago City Council alderman Patrick J. O'Connor (40th Ward).


2009 Illinois's 5th congressional district special election
Pulido, a Mexican-American and director of the Illinois Minuteman Project, won the Republican Party's primary with 25% of the vote. She defeated a handful of local businessmen, including Tom Hanson, David Anderson, Gregory Bedell, Daniel S. Kay, and Jon Stewart.


2009 Illinois's 5th congressional district special election
Reichel, a 27-year-old activist and political operative, won the Green Party's primary with 34% of the vote. He defeated four other candidates for the party's nomination. Reichel's margin of victory over fellow Green Party nominee Deb Gordils was extremely small—only 11 votes. Reichel won with 166 compared to Gordils' 155.


2009 Illinois's 5th congressional district special election
Nearly a month after the primaries, the three candidates took part in the April 7 special general election. Democratic Party candidate Michael Quigley defeated Republican Party candidate Rosanna Pulido and Green Party candidate Matt Reichel. Quigley won with 30,561 votes (69.2%); Pulido had 10,662 (24.2%) and Reichel had 2,911 (6.6%).


2009 Illinois's 5th congressional district special election
The election did not receive a great deal of coverage, due to the district's heavy Democratic lean. The Republican Party did not put up a top-tier candidate, acknowledging that they were not even focusing on the race  This is highlighted in the fact that the Republican nominee was the founder of an anti-illegal-immigration group, running in a district that is one-quarter Hispanic. The real fight was for the Democratic nomination, which would almost assure being elected to Congress. In fact, over 12,000 more votes were cast in the Democratic Primary than there were in the general election.


2009 Imola Formula Two round
The 2009 Imola Formula Two round was the seventh and penultimate round of the 2009 FIA Formula Two Championship season. It was held on 19 and 20 September 2009 at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari at Imola, Italy. The first race was won by Kazim Vasiliauskas, with Mirko Bortolotti and Andy Soucek also on the podium. The second race was won by Andy Soucek, with Robert Wickens and Miloš Pavlović also on the podium. Soucek's third place in race one earned him the championship, as Wickens and Mikhail Aleshin had insufficient points to overhaul the Spaniard's point tally.


2009 Imola Superbike World Championship round
The 2009 Imola Superbike World Championship round was the twelfth round of the 2009 Superbike World Championship season. It took place on the weekend of September 25–27, 2009, at the Imola circuit.


2009 Incarnate Word Cardinals football team
The 2009 Incarnate Word Cardinals football team represented the University of the Incarnate Word in the 2009 NCAA Division II football season. They were led by first-year head coach Mike Santiago. The 2009 season was the inaugural season for UIW football and they competed as an NCAA Division II Independent, meaning they had no athletic conference affiliation in football for the season. Home games were played on campus at Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium. They finished the season 5–5 in their first season of intercollegiate play as a Division II Independent.


2009 Incarnate Word Cardinals football team, TV and radio
All Incarnate Word games were broadcast on ESPN 1250 The Zone with the voices of Paul Alexander and Trey Ware. The weekly Mike Santiago Coach’s Show was also aired live by ESPN 1250 The Zone. Coach Santiago was heard each Thursday for 13 weeks of the season beginning at 7 p.m.  carried all Cardinals football games live while KUIW TV streamed the games live as part of the simulcast.


2009 Independence Bowl
The 2009 AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl was the thirty-fourth edition of the college football bowl game, and was played at Independence Stadium in Shreveport, Louisiana. The game started at 5:00 PM US EST on Monday, December 28, 2009. The game was telecast on ESPN2 and the Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Texas A&M Aggies by a score of 44-20.


2009 Independence Bowl
The game was Georgia's second appearance in the bowl game. Their previous appearance in the game was a 24–15 victory over the University of Arkansas in 1991.


2009 Independence Bowl
As for Texas A&M, the Aggies made their third appearance in the Independence Bowl and now hold an overall record of 1–2. Their last appearance resulted in a 43–41 overtime loss to Mississippi State on December 31, 2000, a game since nicknamed the "Snow Bowl" due to the unusual amount of snowfall Shreveport received that day. The entire game was played under extremely wintry conditions, a rarity for Shreveport.


2009 Independence Bowl
The game was the fifth time that the two schools have faced each other in a game. Texas A&M previously held the series advantage 3–1 (now 3-2). The last time, prior to the bowl that the two teams met was a 42–0 victory by Georgia in 1980. The two teams have played in a bowl game against each other once before, as they met in the 1950 Presidential Cup Bowl. The game, which was played in College Park, Maryland, was the only ever edition of the Presidential Cup Bowl, and Texas A&M was victorious by a score of 40–20.


2009 Independence Bowl, Game summary
Georgia wore their home red jerseys, and Texas A&M wore their away white jerseys.


2009 Independence Bowl, Game summary
Georgia's quarterback, Joe Cox, threw for 157 yards and two touchdowns as the Bulldogs dominated Texas A&M to win their fourth straight bowl game. Tight End Aron White caught both of Cox's touchdown passes, one from 24 yards out and the other a two-yard catch, on his way to being named the game's offensive MVP. Caleb King paced the Bulldogs rushing game with 61 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns. Special teams also played a huge part in the Georgia victory. The Bulldogs scored their first touchdown of the game on a kickoff return for a score.


2009 Independence Bowl, Game summary
Georgia also blocked a punt and a field goal attempt, and recovered a bad snap on a punt at the Texas A&M 24-yard line. Aggies quarterback Jerrod Johnson passed for 360 yards and two touchdowns, but also threw two costly interceptions. Jeff Fuller led A&M with 7 receptions for 101 yards in the losing effort. Georgia's six touchdowns tied an Independence Bowl record. And Georgia's 30 second-half points established a new record for points scored in a half for the Independence Bowl.


2009 Independence Cup (Albania)
The 2009 Independence Cup was the inaugural men's association football friendly tournament organised by the Albanian Football Association on 28 November to commemorate Albanian Independence Day. Flamurtari of Albania, Shkëndija of Republic of Macedonia and Prishtina of Kosovo were invited to compete in the tournament, which was held at the Flamurtari Stadium in Vlorë, near the site of the Albanian Declaration of Independence on 28 November 1912.


2009 Independence Cup (Albania)
Matches lasted 45 minutes each and the competition followed a point scoring system, whereby each team plays two matches, with three points awarded for a win, none for a loss with penalty shootouts determining the winners of drawn matches. All three matches finished in goalless draws and were all decided through penalty shootouts, with Flamurtari winning the tournament after defeating Shkëndija and Prishtina 11–10 and 3–2 on penalties, respectively.


2009 India Open Grand Prix
The 2009 India Open Grand Prix also known as Jaypee Cup Syed Modi Memorial India Grand Prix was a badminton tournament which took place at Babu Banarasi Das Indoor Stadium in Lucknow, India from 15 to 20 December 2009. It is the first time this tournament was ranked as BWF Grand Prix event with a total purse of $50,000. It was the last tournament of the 2009 BWF Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix.


2009 India Open Grand Prix Gold
The 2009 India Open Grand Prix Gold (officially known as the Yonex-Sunrise India Open 2009 for sponsorship reasons) was a badminton tournament which took place at G.M.C. Balayogi SATS Indoor Stadium in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India from 24 to 29 March 2009.


2009 India floods
The 2009 India floods affected various states of India in July 2009, killing at least 36 people in Orissa and 13 in Kerala. The most affected states were Karnataka, Orissa, Kerala, Gujarat and North-East Indian states.


2009 India floods
Floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains killed at least 36 people in the eastern Indian state of Orissa alone and inundated half a million homes. On 13 July, seven people were killed and many others missing when a bus fell into a rivulet after being swept away by flood waters in Nayagarh district in Orissa. Nayagarh is 87 km from the Orissa state capital, Bhubaneswar. The world-famous Sun Temple at Konark is also water-logged, causing hardship for tourists. The most flood affected districts in Orissa are Nayagarh, Cuttack, Ganjam, Keonjhar, Koraput and Kandhamal.


2009 India floods
Several parts of Kerala were affected with the torrential rains with losses amounting to crores of rupees. At least 13 people in Kerala state are reported dead due to floods in the state. The most affected districts of Kerala are Kannur, Ernakulam, Kozhikode, Kollam Thrissur, Malappuram, Wayanad, Kasaragod and Alappuzha districts. A number of relief camps are opened throughout the state. The Revenue Minister of Kerala state, K. P. Rajendran at Kozhikode has convened a meeting on 20 July 2009 to review the damage caused by rain. District Collectors and officials of the various departments of Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Palakkad districts are likely attend the meeting.


2009 India floods
Over three lakh people have been hit after incessant rains in Assam and other north eastern states of India.


2009 India floods
At least 10 people, including four children and two women, were killed and nine others injured on 27 July 2009 when a wall collapsed due to heavy rains in the satellite township Noida of the national capital of Delhi.


2009 Indian Premier League
The 2009 Indian Premier League season, abbreviated as IPL 2 or the 2009 IPL, was the second season of the Indian Premier League, established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. The tournament was hosted by South Africa and was played between 18 April and 24 May 2009. It was the second biggest cricket tournament in the world, after the Cricket World Cup, and was forecast to have an estimated television audience of more than 200 million people in India alone.


2009 Indian Premier League
As the second season of the IPL coincided with multi-phase 2009 Indian general elections, in the aftermath of the 3 March 2009 attack on the Sri Lanka national cricket team the Government of India refused to commit security by Indian paramilitary forces. As a result, the BCCI decided to host the second season of the league outside India. On 24 March 2009, the BCCI officially announced that the second season of the IPL was to be held in South Africa. Though India did not host the second season, the format of the tournament remained unchanged from the 2008 season format.


2009 Indian Premier League
The IPL injected approximately US$100 million into South Africa's local economy. In addition, the BCCI signed an ₹ 82 billion (US$1.63 billion) contract with Multi Screen Media to broadcast matches live from South Africa to India.


2009 Indian Premier League
The IPL was hosted successfully in South Africa and was hailed as an "extraordinary" accomplishment. The tournament was particularly praised for globalizing cricket and had set record television viewership. The tournament was won by Deccan Chargers, who beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the final.


2009 Indian Premier League, Rules and regulations
Some of the rules were changed for the 2009 edition of the IPL. The number of international players allowed in any one squad was increased from 8 to 10 although the number allowed in any playing 11 remained at 4. The IPL sanctioned franchises to spend a further US$2 million during the auction taking the total salary cap for each franchise to US$7 million for the 2009 tournament. The BCCI also negotiated with England Cricket Board (ECB) to allow English cricketers to participate in the tournament. English players were allowed to play for 21 days in between their tour to West Indies and the subsequent return tour.


2009 Indian Premier League, Rules and regulations
At the halfway point of each innings, a seven-and-a-half-minute television timeout was now held. The change proved controversial, as critics and players felt that it broke the flow of the game, and because two-thirds of the break were devoted purely to additional advertising time. The timeout rules were revised for the 2010 season.


2009 Indian Premier League, Rules and regulations
The format is the same as previous season. Points in the group stage were awarded as follows:


2009 Indian Premier League, Rules and regulations
If the match ends with the scores tied and there must be a winner, the tie is broken with a one over per side "Eliminator" or "Super Over":


2009 Indian Premier League, Warm-up game
The match between Cape Cobras and Rajasthan Royals was billed as the "Clash of the Champions" due to both teams being champions of their country's Twenty20 leagues. However, as an IPL warmup, both teams fielded understrength teams in order to try out new blood, with only 4 of Rajasthan's 2008 title-winning team playing the warm-up. Cape Cobras were the victors.


2009 Indian Premier League, Statistics, Attendance
The attendance was expected to be lower in the second edition due to the lower capacities of South African grounds . Total attendance is expected to be a maximum of 1.4 million.


2009 Indian Premier League, Other awards
Player of the grand final: Anil Kumble - Royal Challengers Bangalore


2009 Indian Premier League, Other awards
U-23 success of the tournament: Rohit Sharma (333 runs, 11 wickets) - Deccan Chargers


2009 Indian Premier League, Other awards
Highest score of the tournament: Manish Pandey (114*) - Royal Challengers Bangalore


2009 Indian Premier League, Franchise earnings
The second season that concluded on 24 May 2009 was hugely profitable for the IPL compared to the previous edition. In the 2009 season all the franchises made a profit.


2009 Indian Premier League Final
The 2009 Indian Premier League Final was a day/night Twenty20 cricket match played between the Deccan Chargers and the Royal Challengers Bangalore on 24 May 2009 at the New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg to determine the winner of the 2009 Indian Premier League, a professional Twenty20 cricket league in India. It ended as the Chargers defeated the Royal Challengers by six runs.


2009 Indian Premier League Final
The Chargers, captained by Adam Gilchrist, came fourth in group stage table, whereas the Royal Challengers, led by Anil Kumble, stood at the third position. They had defeated the Delhi Daredevils and the Chennai Super Kings respectively in the semi-finals.


2009 Indian Premier League Final
Winning the toss, Royal Challengers captain Anil Kumble opted to field first. The Chargers scored 143 runs in 20 overs with a loss of 6 wickets. Batting at opening, Herschelle Gibbs top scored for the Chargers with 53 runs. Royals' bowler Anil Kumble took four wickets for 16 runs. The Royal Challengers failed to build a good opening partnership. However, due to contributions from the middle order, it reached 129/9 in the last over But Royal Challengers failed to take 15 runs from the last over bowled by RP Singh. They took 8 and the match ended with Royal Challengers 137/9. Chargers won the match by 6 runs and earned 2009 Indian Premier League title. Kumble, who was the best performer for the Royal Challengers Bangalore was named the man of the match.


2009 Indian Premier League Final, Route to the final, Group stage
The Chargers started its campaign with four consecutive wins, but lost its next three matches to the Daredevils, the Royals and the Kings. It qualified for the semifinals after losing its last two league matches. The Royal Challengers won its first match in the group stage to the Royals. But, it lost all of its next four matches. Then, it won three consecutive league matches against Knight Riders, Kings XI and Indians. But again lost two. Then it won the last 4 matches of the league.


2009 Indian Premier League Final, Route to the final, Group stage
The two teams faced each other in two matches of the group stage, The two matches were won by the two teams for 1 times.,


2009 Indian Premier League Final, Route to the final, Semi-finals
The Chargers played the Daredevils in the first semi-final. The Chargers won the toss and decided to field first. The Daredevils failed to make an opening partnership. Gautam Gambhir was out on the 5th ball of the match with a zero run in scorecard for him and the team. And the Daredevils got a big shock when David Warner followed Gambhir in the very next ball. Daredevils were 0/2 after Over 1. But Virender Sehwag and Tillakaratne Dilshan added 85 runs in the 3rd wicket partnership. At the 85 run Sehwag was out scoring 39 from 31.


2009 Indian Premier League Final, Route to the final, Semi-finals
After that the middle and lower middle batting order took the run to 150's. Daredevils scored 153 for 8 after 20 overs. Tillakaratne Dilshan scored the highest run for his team. He scored 65 from 51. Chargers pacer Ryan Harris was the most successful bowler with a 3/27 figure in 4 overs. After coming to bat Chargers lost their first wicket in 22 runs. But captain's 85 from 35 made the target easier and Charger reached the target in 17.4 overs with 6 wickets in hand. Adam Gilchrist was the man of the match


2009 Indian Premier League Final, Route to the final, Semi-finals
In the second semi-final, Super Kings played the Royal Challengers . The Royal Challengers won the toss and elected to field first. After making 26 runs at the 61 runs opening partnership Mathew Hayden was out. Then MS Dhoni came to bat. But his slow 28 from 30 made the innings slow. The middle order player Suresh Raina and Albie Morkel tried to score quickly. But they could make 146 for 5 in 20 overs. Parthiv Patel was the highest scorer for Super Kings with 36 from 27.


2009 Indian Premier League Final, Route to the final, Semi-finals
Vinay Kumar was the most successful bowler with 4 from 38 runs in 4 overs. Royal Challengers lost early wickets. They lost Jacques Kallis at the 17 runs. At 22 runs they lost Roelof van der Merwe. But 70 runs at 3rd wicket made the way easier for Royal Challengers. With 92 runs on the board, Manish Pandey departed. After 18 runs at the 4th wicket, with 110 runs on the board Rahul Dravid also departed. Then Virat Kohli and Ross Taylor didn't do any mistake to get the winning runs. Royal Challengers chased 146 with 7 balls and 6 wickets in hand. Manish Pandey was the highest scorer for RCB, scoring 48 from 35 for Royal Challengers while Muttiah Muralitharan took 1 for 15 in 4 overs. Manish Pandey was named the man of the match.


2009 Indian Premier League Final, Match, Scorecard
Fall of wickets: 1-0 (Gilchrist, 0.3 overs), 2-18 (Suman, 3.3 overs), 3-58 (Symonds, 8.5 overs), 4-110 (R Sharma, 16.2 overs), 5-115 (V Rao, 16.6 overs), 6-134 (Bilakhia, 19.1 overs)


2009 Indian Premier League Final, Match, Scorecard
Fall of wickets: 1-20 (Kallis, 3.3 overs), 2-36 (Pandey, 6.1 overs), 3-57 (van der Merwe, 8.3 overs), 4-79 (Dravid, 11.4 overs), 5-99 (Taylor, 14.2 overs), 6-99 (Kohli, 14.3 overs), 7-107 (Boucher, 15.5 overs), 8-110 (Praveen Kumar, 16.4 overs), 9-129 (Vinay Kumar, 18.6 overs)


2009 Indian Rajya Sabha elections
Rajya Sabha elections were held on various dates in 2009, to elect members of the Rajya Sabha, Indian Parliament's upper chamber. The elections were held  to elect respectively four members from Jammu and Kashmir, three members from Kerala and one member from Pondicherry for the Council of States, the Rajya Sabha.


2009 Indian Rajya Sabha elections, Elections
Elections were held to elect members from states of J&K, KL, PY.


2009 Indian Rajya Sabha elections, Elections, Members elected
The following members are elected in the elections held in 2009. They are members for the term 2009-2015 and retire in year 2015, except in case of the resignation or death before the term. The list is incomplete.


2009 Indian Rajya Sabha elections, Bye-elections
The bye-elections were also held for the vacant seats from the State of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar.


2009 Indian general election
General elections were held in India in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009 to elect the members of the 15th Lok Sabha. With an electorate of 716 million, it was the largest democratic election in the world until surpassed by the 2014 election.


2009 Indian general election
By constitutional requirement, elections to the Lok Sabha must be held every five years or when Parliament is dissolved by the president. The previous elections were held in May 2004 and the term of the 14th Lok Sabha would have naturally expired on 1 June 2009. Elections are organised by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and are normally held in multiple phases to better handle the large electorate and security concerns. The 2009 elections were held in five phases. In February 2009, Rs.11.20 billion ($200.5 million) was budgeted for election expenses by parliament.


2009 Indian general election
A total of 8,070 candidates contested 543 seats elected in single-member constituencies using first-past-the-post voting. Voter turnout over all five phases was around 58%. The results of the election were announced within three days of phase five, on 16 May.


2009 Indian general election
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by the Indian National Congress formed the government after winning a majority of seats, with strong results in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Manmohan Singh became the first Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in 1962 to be re-elected after completing a full five-year term. The UPA was able to put together a comfortable majority with support from 322 of the 543 elected members. External support was provided by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other minor parties.


2009 Indian general election
Singh was sworn in as Prime Minister on 22 May 2009 at the Ashoka Hall of Rashtrapati Bhavan.


2009 Indian general election, Background
The election, while following the normal five-year cycle, came after a break in the old UPA alliance after the left parties withdrew support of the Indo-US nuclear deal forcing a vote of confidence (which the government won).


2009 Indian general election, Electoral issues, Delimitation
The 2009 elections adopted re-drawn electoral constituencies based on the 2001 census, following the 2002 Delimitation Commission of India, whose recommendations were approved in February 2008.


2009 Indian general election, Electoral issues, Delimitation
In the 2009 general elections, 499 out of the total 543 Parliamentary constituencies were newly delimited constituencies. This affected the National Capital Region of Delhi, the Union Territory of Puducherry and all the states except Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu & Kashmir, Jharkhand, Manipur and Nagaland. While comparing election results, it must be borne in mind that in many instances a constituency with the same name may reflect a significantly different population demographic as well as a slightly altered geographical region.


2009 Indian general election, Electoral issues, Electronic voting machines
As in the 2004 election, this election was also conducted completely using electronic voting machines (EVMs), with 1,368,430 voting machines deployed across the country.


2009 Indian general election, Electoral issues, Polling stations
There were 828,804 Polling Stations around the country – a 20% increase over the number from the 2004 election. This was done mainly to avoid vulnerability to threat and intimidation, to overcome geographical barriers and to reduce the distance travelled by voters.


2009 Indian general election, Electoral issues, Polling stations
The CEC announced that the polling station in Banej village in the Una segment of Junagadh, Gujarat had the unique claim to being the only polling station in the country that catered to a single elector – Guru Shree Bharatdasji Bapu, a priest of a Shiva temple in the middle of the Gir Forest.


2009 Indian general election, Electoral issues, Electoral rolls
The electoral rolls had to be completely updated because of the delimitation that took effect from February 2008. The process of updating the electoral rolls continued until the last date of filing nominations. 714 million people were eligible to vote in 2009, up 6.4% (43 million) from 2004.


2009 Indian general election, Electoral issues, Electoral rolls
This election also saw the entire country except the states of Assam, Nagaland and Jammu & Kashmir use photo electoral rolls. This meant that the photo of each elector was printed on the electoral rolls and this was intended to facilitate easy identification and prevent impersonations.


2009 Indian general election, Electoral issues, Electoral rolls
In addition to the photo electoral rolls, the electors also needed to provide separate photo identification. Those electors who had already been issued Electoral Photo Identification Cards (EPIC) were only permitted to use the EPIC for identification at the polling station. According to the EC, 82% of the country's electors (except those in Assam) have been issued EPIC before the 2009 election was announced.


2009 Indian general election, Polling schedule, Background
The Chief Election Commissioner of India (CEC), N. Gopalaswami, had stated on 28 December 2008, that the elections were likely to be held between April and May 2009. He attributed this schedule to the examination period from February to March, making polling places unavailable.


2009 Indian general election, Polling schedule, Background
On 31 January 2009, fractures within the Election Commission came to the fore when Gopalaswami recommended to President Pratibha Patil that Election Commissioner Navin Chawla be sacked for behaving in a partisan manner. This recommendation in itself was controversial, as it was unclear if a CEC had the legal and constitutional right to provide such a unilateral recommendation. Chawla refused to resign as he was expected to take over the post of Chief Election Commissioner a few months later.


2009 Indian general election, Polling schedule, Background
This controversy also resulted in speculation that the Election Commission was unable to agree on the actual polling dates, with the incumbent CEC Gopalaswami preferring that at least one phase of elections be held before his retirement on 20 April 2009. Navin Chawla, on the other hand, wanted the election to only start after Gopalaswami retired.


2009 Indian general election, Polling schedule, Background
Eventually, on 1 March 2009, President Patil rejected Gopalaswami's recommendation to remove Chawla after the Government advised her to do so. Soon after the above announcement by President Patil, the Election Commissioners got together to announce the details of the general election.


2009 Indian general election, Polling schedule, Background
The polling schedule for the 2009 General Elections was announced by the Chief Election Commissioner on 2 March 2009.


2009 Indian general election, Polling schedule, Background
Subsequently, the President's House announced on 4 March 2009 that CEC Gopalaswami would retire as scheduled on 20 April 2009 and Navin Chawla would take over as CEC starting 21 April 2009. It was the first time in the history of Indian politics that two different people oversaw different phases of the same election.


2009 Indian general election, Coalitions
The 2009 general election saw three main national pre-poll alliances. Given the volatile nature of coalition politics in India, many parties changed alliances before, during and after the elections. The two larger coalitions, UPA and NDA, had clearly indicated their prime ministerial candidates during campaigning for the election. The Third Front announced repeatedly through the campaigning period that their prime ministerial candidate would only be decided after the election results came out. In Indian parliamentary system, the announcement of Prime Ministerial candidates prior to elections is not required.


2009 Indian general election, Coalitions, United Progressive Alliance
The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was formed after the 2004 general election to bring together parties that either allied with the Congress in various states, or were willing to support a Congress-led national government. Though the UPA never enjoyed a clear majority on its own in the 14th Lok Sabha, it managed to complete its five-year term from 2004 to 2009 by securing outside support from the left parties (CPI(M), CPI, AIFB, RSP), Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party at different times during this tenure.


2009 Indian general election, Coalitions, United Progressive Alliance
Following the August 2008 confidence vote victory for the current government, a statement by Congress President Sonia Gandhi caused speculation that the UPA would project Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the Prime Ministerial candidate in the next elections. While Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader M. Karunanidhi supported Manmohan Singh as the PM candidate, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar tried to project himself as a possible Prime Ministerial candidate as well. On 24 January 2009, Manmohan Singh underwent a cardiac bypass surgery at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.


2009 Indian general election, Coalitions, United Progressive Alliance
Following the surgery, speculation of alternate PM candidates arose both within the Congress and amongst coalition partners. In an attempt to quell such speculations, Sonia Gandhi on 6 February 2009, confirmed that Manmohan Singh would be the UPA's PM candidate by writing so in the Congress party magazine Sandesh. This was the first time in the history of Indian elections that the Congress party had declared its Prime Ministerial candidate prior to the elections.


2009 Indian general election, Coalitions, National Democratic Alliance
Prime Minister candidate: Lal Krishna Advani (Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP))


2009 Indian general election, Coalitions, National Democratic Alliance
The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was the first large national coalition formed by a national party supported by various regional parties. It was formed after the 1998 general election and the NDA formed the Government led by BJP's Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The government collapsed a few months later, but the NDA returned to power after the 1999 general election and this time the Vajpayee-led Government completed its full term from 1999 to 2004. Due to the volatile nature of coalitions, NDA won 181 seats after the 2004 election, but due to parties changing alliances, before the 2009 election they had 142 seats.


2009 Indian general election, Coalitions, National Democratic Alliance
The main opposition party, BJP, and its NDA coalition partners announced on 11 December 2007 (more than a year before the election) that their candidate for prime minister would be BJP party leader Advani who was the Leader of the Opposition at the time. On 23 January 2008, leaders from BJP and other NDA parties convened in the capital to officially elect him as their candidate for the election.


2009 Indian general election, Coalitions, Third Front
Seats: The newly formed alliance carried with them 109 seats before the 2009 election. The CPI(M) led the formation of the Third Front for the 2009 election. This front was basically a collection of regional political parties who were neither in UPA nor in the NDA. Most of the constituents of this Third Front were those who were part of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA).


2009 Indian general election, Coalitions, Fourth Front
Seats: The newly formed alliance carried with them 64 seats before the 2009 election. The Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Lok Janshakti Party failed to reach seat sharing agreements with the Congress and decided to form a new front, hoping to be kingmakers after the election. Despite announcing this front, the constituent parties continued to declare their support for the UPA.


2009 Indian general election, Campaign, United Progressive Alliance
The Congress party bought the rights for the Oscar-winning soundtrack "Jai Ho" from the movie Slumdog Millionaire, which was used as the official campaign tune by the party. The song title "Jai Ho" translates to 'Let there be victory', and the Congress hoped that the popular song would galvanise the masses during the almost one-month-long election season.


2009 Indian general election, Campaign, United Progressive Alliance
On 24 March 2009, Congress President Sonia Gandhi released the party's manifesto for the 2009 election. The manifesto highlighted all the achievements of the UPA Government over the last five years in power and identified improving various policies to favour more rural & under-privileged sections of the Indian society.


2009 Indian general election, Campaign, United Progressive Alliance
The Congress campaign ran into trouble when the Election Commission took exception to a full page advertisement on the 2010 Commonwealth Games taken out in major Delhi newspapers. The EC served notice to the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, the Cabinet Secretary and the Chief Secretary of Delhi, stating that the advertisement was a clear violation of the model code of conduct since it enumerated the achievements of the UPA Government. The EC has also asked the violators to pay from their own pockets.


2009 Indian general election, Campaign, National Democratic Alliance
To counter the Congress' selection of "Jai Ho" as their official anthem, the BJP coined the phrase Kushal Neta,


2009 Indian general election, Campaign, National Democratic Alliance
On 3 April 2009, BJP released its election manifesto in New Delhi. The party was taking on the incumbent UPA Government on the three fronts of Good Governance, Development and Security. The manifesto highlighted all the different NDA policies that the UPA reversed over the last five years. The manifesto laid a lot of importance on requiring strong, POTA-like anti-terrorism laws and vowed to make India a safer place if the BJP is elected. The full text of the manifesto is available at the BJP website.


2009 Indian general election, Campaign, National Democratic Alliance
The BJP campaign faced its biggest controversy when the EC directed the District Magistrate of Pilibhit to lodge a criminal case against the BJP's candidate Varun Gandhi for his allegedly inflammatory speech against minority communities made on 7 March 2009. This decision was taken after the EC had earlier issued a notice to Varun Gandhi and the BJP. After reviewing the incident, the EC found Varun Gandhi guilty of violating the model code of conduct by creating feeling of enmity and hatred between different communities and issued a recommendation the BJP to drop him from their list of candidates. The BJP however came out in support of Varun and refused to drop him as a candidate.


2009 Indian general election, Campaign, Third Front
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) formed a Third Front. The Third Front tried to contest the election, hoping to create a non-BJP, non-Congress government, by attracting many local and regional parties, that were once with the other two alliances. The Third Front came into the alliance with 83 MPs, and various polling conducted before the election projected the alliance of getting over 100 seats. The CPI(M) created a campaign website hosting its campaign information to attract sympathisers among the netizen public to vote for the party.


2009 Indian general election, Campaign, Innovative technology usage during campaigning
During this election, political parties used technology in innovative ways to reach out to the voters. Although SMS had been used during prior elections, political parties had realised that the rural and illiterate voters which form a majority could not read. Young and technology savvy politicians quickly realised that voice was the way to reach out to the rural community as they could speak their language. This turned out to be very interesting as two voice companies from India, TringMe and VoiceHawk played the pivotal role in reaching out to the billion people of India.


2009 Indian general election, Opinion polling
Most opinion polls conducted by major agencies gave the UPA an edge over the NDA, but none were predicted to get absolute majority. The UPA including the Fourth front was, however, predicted by a few to get seats close to majority. The opinion polls reckoned that other regional parties would play an important role by winning a substantial number of seats. In results where the "Fourth Front" is indicated, the SP, RJD and LJP are not being counted in the UPA figure.


2009 Indian general election, Opinion polling, Exit polls
In February 2009, the ECI banned the publishing of all exit polls starting 48 hours before Phase 1 of the election until the end of Phase 5. This was intended to prevent exit polls from earlier phases affecting voter decisions in later phases. The ban ended with the close of Phase 5 voting at 5:00 pm IST on 13 May.


2009 Indian general election, Election phases, Phase 1 – 16 April 2009
The first phase of the 2009 election took place on Thursday, 16 April with elections in 124 constituencies across 15 states and 2 union territories. There were incidents of violence in a few places in Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra and between 17 and 19 people were killed in Naxal attacks. The dead included five poll officials and 10 security personnel, whose families received a compensation of Rs 1 million. Naxals set fire to voting machines, attacked voters, security personnel and polling workers, and destroyed vehicles. According to one news source, "It was apparent that the Naxals had clearly planned to disrupt the polls."


2009 Indian general election, Election phases, Phase 1 – 16 April 2009
Despite these incidents, the ECI expressed satisfaction about the conduct of the polls due to peaceful polling in many other parts of the country. Initial reports from the ECI place the voter turnout for this phase at approximately 60 percent. This phase of the election was held in 185,000 polling stations, serving an electorate of over 143.1 million deciding the fate of 1,715 candidates.


2009 Indian general election, Election phases, Phase 1 – 16 April 2009
The ECI ordered repoll in 46 polling booths across 7 of the states where polling took place in the first phase. These include 29 polling booths in Andhra Pradesh, 5 each in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, 3 in Nagaland, 2 in Kerala and 1 each in Jammu & Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh. The repoll in all these polling booths were held on 18 April 2009.


2009 Indian general election, Election phases, Phase 1 – 16 April 2009
One of the positive stories emerging from this phase of election was from Kandhamal district, where refugees of the 2008 Kandhamal riots came out in huge numbers to exercise their franchise. It is estimated that there was a turnout of 90% amongst Kandhamal refugees and 50% across the entire district. The administration had earlier identified large parts of the area as naxal affected and vulnerable. Hence, the administration had deployed extra security in the area and the ECI has arranged for special transport to shuttle the refugees from the refugee camps to the polling booths. Both of these actions helped achieve the high turnout.


2009 Indian general election, Election phases, Phase 2 – 22 April 2009 and 23 April 2009
The second phase of the 2009 election was spread across Wednesday, 22 April (Phase 2A) and Thursday, 23 April (Phase 2B). Phase 2A saw election in a single constituency in Manipur as it was a state holiday on 23 April.


2009 Indian general election, Election phases, Phase 2 – 22 April 2009 and 23 April 2009
According to the EC, the election in Manipur in Phase 2A was peaceful and witnessed a voter turnout of about 62%. Following the election, though, the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Manipur People's Party (MPP) have alleged vote rigging by Congress workers during the polls in Phase 2A. The MPP claimed that the Congress workers captured 11 booths in the Andro Assembly segment of Imphal East.


2009 Indian general election, Election phases, Phase 2 – 22 April 2009 and 23 April 2009
Phase 2B saw polling in 12 states for 140 constituencies – the most in any phase of this election. This phase was largely peaceful and saw about 55% turnout. There were stray incidents of violence in areas with active Naxalite groups in Jharkhand and Bihar. The poor turnout in this phase was blamed on a heat wave sweeping the country that took the noon-time temperature on election day up to between 42 and 46 degrees Celsius in various parts of the country. Two polling officials even died due to sun stroke in Orissa with two also falling ill.


2009 Indian general election, Election phases, Phase 3 – 30 April 2009
The third phase of the 2009 election was held on Thursday, 30 April with elections in 107 constituencies spread across nine states and two union territories. The fate of 1,567 candidates was decided in this phase including those of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, BJP's Prime Minister candidate L.K. Advani and former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) President Deve Gowda. This phase included voting in Mumbai where the turnout was relatively low. The voter turnout around the country was moderate and this was primarily blamed on the extreme heat on election day. Voting was largely peaceful all across the country. However, Maoist guerrillas exploded a landmine in West Bengal's Purulia district, injuring a paramilitary trooper.


2009 Indian general election, Election phases, Phase 4 – 7 May 2009
The fourth phase of the election was held on Thursday, 7 May with elections for 85 seats across eight states involving 1,315 candidates. The phase's high-profile candidates included External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and former chief ministers Mulayam Singh Yadav, Rajnath Singh, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Farooq Abdullah. Apart from bomb attacks in West Bengal's Asansol and Murshidabad districts that killed one person each and some violence in Rajasthan, this phase was relatively peaceful. This phase saw voting in the nation's capital Delhi where the voter turnout was around 53%, much higher than the previous two elections in Delhi.


2009 Indian general election, Election phases, Phase 5 – 13 May 2009
The fifth and final phase of the 2009 election was held on Wednesday, 13 May with voting across seven states and two union territories for 86 constituencies. Overall the turnout was 62%. Numerous cases of voter omissions were reported in Tamil Nadu which had 39 seats up for grab. In Jammu & Kashmir, two polling stations could not be reached by the polling officials due to extreme snow which prevented their helicopters from landing at the site.


2009 Indian general election, Election phases, Phase 5 – 13 May 2009
The polling officials were forced to trek through deep snow to reach the polling stations and polls took place 2 days later on 15 May in these two stations. A few cases of violence were also reported in this phase. One DMK official was stabbed to death in Tamil Nadu in a clash between the political parties and another person was killed in West Bengal in clashes between Trinamool Congress and CPI(M) party workers.


2009 Indian general election, Results
Vote counting took place on 16 May and the result were declared the same day. The EVMs were localised to 1,080 centres across the country and counting started at 08:00 hrs. The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) took early lead and maintained it to emerge victorious. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Rajnath Singh said that the BJP's performance in the election was very unexpected and the success of the NDA that had been hoped for had not materialised. The CPI (M) led third front later said that it was ready to sit in the opposition.


2009 Indian general election, Results, By states and territories
The UPA carried 18 states, while the NDA and the Third Front carried 8 and 2 respectively. Source: Election Commission of India


2009 Indian general election, Analysis
This election defied the predictions made by pre-poll predictions and exit polls and gave a  mandate in favour of incumbent UPA government. According to many analysts after the election, many factors can be attributed for a landslide. According to the National Election Study 2009, published in The Hindu newspaper after the election, the victory to the UPA government is attributed to saturation of caste-based identity politics, the focus on good governance and BJP's limitations, gave Congress the edge. Another factor is the vote-splitting by the Third Front, especially the BSP and MNS in Maharashtra, which resulted in the Indian National Congress gaining many of its seats without getting a majority in the corresponding constituency.


2009 Indian general election, Formation of the new government
The President, Pratibha Patil dissolved the 14th Lok Sabha with immediate effect on 18 May. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh submitted the resignation of his Council of Ministers to the President, for him to be re-elected as the Prime Minister as well as for a new Council of Ministers to be elected. On 19 May, Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi were re-elected as party leader and chairperson respectively of the Congress Parliamentary Party. This effectively made him the prime minister-elect of the new government. President Pratibha Patil invited Singh to then form the new government on 20 May. The new government was sworn in on 22 May.


2009 Indian general election, Formation of the new government, Government formation
Due to the fact that UPA was able to get 262 seats – just short of 10 seats for a majority – all the external support came from parties who gave unconditional support to Manmohan Singh and the UPA. The Janata Dal, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Samajwadi Party all decided to do so to keep out any possibility of a BJP government in the next 5 years. Nagaland Peoples Front, Sikkim Democratic Front, and Bodaland Peoples Front, each with an MP, decided to join and support the UPA government. The three independent candidates to extend support for UPA were all from Maharashtra, and they were Sadashiv Mandlik, from Kolhapur constituency, Raju Shetty, from the political party Swabhimani Paksha, who won from Hatkandagle and Baliram Jadhav from Bahujan Vikas Aghadi party who won the Palghar constituency.


2009 Indian general election, Formation of the new government, Government formation
On 21 May, it was announced that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) had decided to leave and give outside support to the UPA government, due to failed talks between the Congress and the DMK on cabinet positions. After many deliberations between DMK and Congress, the DMK agreed to 3 cabinet ministers and 4 ministers of state. Kanimozhi, daughter of the DMK leader M. Karunanidhi, decided not to join the new government cabinet, instead she wanted to focus on improving the parties image.


2009 Indian general election, Formation of the new government, Government formation
The two incumbent cabinet ministers from DMK, Dayanidhi Maran and A. Raja joined the cabinet, but due to concerns raised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on T.R. Baalu, he was dropped from the cabinet, and Karunanidhi's son M.K. Azhagiri, replaced him as part of a compromise. On 25 May 2009, DMK decided to join the UPA government, reversing the decision made in prior days to extend outside support.


2009 Indian general election campaign controversies
The 2009 Indian general election was held in five phases between 16 April – 13 May 2009. During the course of the campaign, several controversies arose, with parties being accused by one another and the Election Commission of India of violating the model code of conduct that was in force during the election.


2009 Indian general election in Andhra Pradesh
The 2009 Indian general election polls in Andhra Pradesh were held for 42 seats in the state. The major contenders in the polls were the Third Front, Indian National Congress and Praja Rajyam. The assembly elections were held simultaneously with the general elections in the state.


2009 Indian general election in Andhra Pradesh
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) left the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after the losses in 2004, and now joined the Third Front. Telangana Rashtra Samithi who were part of the UPA, in the 2004 election, also now allied with the Third Front. But after voting took place in Andhra Pradesh, and before votes were counted, the TRS joined the NDA. These were the first elections for the movie star Chiranjeevi led Praja Rajyam.


2009 Indian general election in Andhra Pradesh
The results were a repeat of the last election, where the Indian National Congress and the UPA, won 34 out of 42 seats, resulting in a landslide victory. The popularity of Chief Minister Rajasekhar Reddy earned him a landslide victory in the national election and winning his re-election, in the state election.


2009 Indian general election in Arunachal Pradesh
The 2009 Indian general election in Arunachal Pradesh were held for 2 seats. Indian National Congress won both the seats.


2009 Indian general election in Assam
The 2009 Indian general election polls in Assam were held for 14 seats in the state. United Progressive Alliance won 7 of the 14 seats, these all 7 seats were won by Congress. The NDAs Bharatiya Janata Party won 4 seats and Asom Gana Parishad won one seat.


2009 Indian general election in Bihar
The 2009 Indian general election in Bihar were held for 40 seats with the state going to polls in the first four phases of the general elections. The major contenders in the state were the National Democratic Alliance (NDA),Indian National Congress and the Fourth Front. NDA consisted of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (United) whereas the fourth front was constituted of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP).


2009 Indian general election in Bihar
The results indicated the complete reversal of the last election, where the NDA won this state in a landslide securing 32 out of 40 seats. The victory is mostly credited to the work of Nitish Kumar and JD(U), and this is the only state where the NDA has had the most success since, they were defeated by Congress and allies, in all the other states, leading to their heavy losses for the NDA in the election.


2009 Indian general election in Bihar
After disagreement with the UPA on seat sharing, Lalu Prasad Yadav of the Rashtriya Janata Dal joined hands with Lok Janshakti Party and Ram Vilas Paswan, and joined the Fourth Front, with Samajwadi Party. This move proved to be disastrous, since LJP couldn't win a single seat, and RJD were reduced to 4 seats in the Lok Sabha. After the election Laloo Prasad Yadav, admitted that it was a mistake to leave the UPA, and gave unconditional support to Manmohan Singh and the newly formed UPA government.


2009 Indian general election in Chhattisgarh
The 2009 Indian general election polls in Chhattisgarh were held for eleven seats in the state. Ten seats were won by  the Bharatiya Janata Party for the National Democratic Alliance and one by the Indian National Congress for the United Progressive Alliance in first-past-the-post elections. Voting in the state took place on 16 April. The election was marred by Naxalite violence in several of the state's constituencies. Out of approximately 15.4 million eligible voters 55.29 percent exercised their right to vote.


2009 Indian general election in Delhi
The 2009 Indian general election in Delhi, occurred for 7 seats in the state.


2009 Indian general election in Goa
The 2009 Indian general election in Goa, occurred for 2 seats in the state. Both UPA and NDA won one seat each.


2009 Indian general election in Gujarat
In the 2009 Indian general election for Gujarat were held for 26 seats in the state. The major two contenders in the state were Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress (INC).


2009 Indian general election in Gujarat, Voting and Results, Results by Party
The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) won 15 seats and the Indian National Congress won  11 seats.


2009 Indian general election in Haryana
The 2009 Indian general election in Haryana, occurred for 10 seats in the state.


2009 Indian general election in Himachal Pradesh
The 2009 Indian general election in Himachal Pradesh were held for 4 seats. Bhartiya Janata Party won 3 seats. While Indian National Congress won 1 seat.


2009 Indian general election in Jammu and Kashmir
The 2009 Indian general election in Jammu and Kashmir to the 15th Lok Sabha were held for 6 seats. Jammu and Kashmir National Conference won 3 seats. Indian National Congress won 2 and one was won by an Independent politician Hassan Khan.


2009 Indian general election in Jharkhand
The 2009 Indian general election in Jharkhand, was held for 14 seats in the state.


2009 Indian general election in Karnataka
The 2009 Indian general election in Karnataka, occurred for 28 seats in the state.


2009 Indian general election in Kerala
The 2009 Indian general election polls in Kerala were held for 20 seats in the state.


2009 Indian general election in Kerala, Alliances
United Democratic Front (UDF) is a Kerala legislative alliance and is allied to United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in the Lok Sabha. LDF comprises primarily of CPI(M) and the CPI, forming the Left Front in the national level. National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) contested in all 20 seats.


2009 Indian general election in Madhya Pradesh
The 2009 Indian general election for Madhya Pradesh polls were held for 29 seats in the state. The major two contenders in the state were Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) and the Indian National Congress (INC). The BJP was expected to perform well as it had won the assembly elections conducted in the state during November–December 2008.


2009 Indian general election in Madhya Pradesh, Voting and Results
The Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) won 16 seats, Indian National Congress (INC)  12 seats whereas the Bahujan Samaj Party won one seat.


2009 Indian general election in Maharashtra
The Indian general election, 2009 in Maharashtra were held for 48 seats with the state going to polls in the first three phases of the general elections. The major contenders in the state were the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and National Democratic Alliance (NDA). UPA consisted of the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party whereas the NDA consisted of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena. The Shiv Sena contested on 22 seats in the state and the BJP over 25 seats.


2009 Indian general election in Maharashtra
Similarly, the NCP contested on 21 seats and the Indian National Congress contested on 25 seats. Other parties in the fray included the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Bahujan Samaj Party which fielded candidates on 47 seats, and the Fourth Front. The MNS which was contesting its first general elections fielded candidates on 11 seats in the state.


2009 Indian general election in Manipur
The 2009 Indian general election in Manipur, occurred for 2 seats in the state.


2009 Indian general election in Manipur
Candidates of the Indian National Congress triumphed in the election to both the Parliamentary constituencies with Dr Thokchom Meinya Singh retaining the Inner seat and Thangso Baite wresting the Outer Parliamentary seat from Mani Charenamei of the People's Democratic Alliance. After completion of counting of votes cast by the electorates of Manipur in the 15th Lok Sabha elections, Dr Meinya defeated his nearest rival Dr Moirangthem Nara Singh of CPI by 40,960 votes with Thangso Baite favoured by 344,517 voters compared to 224,719 votes cast for Charenamei. Thangso Baite's victory margin by 119,798 votes over Charenamei is also more than the figure of defeat suffered by the Congress candidate to the same rival in the previous poll.


2009 Indian general election in Manipur, Details, Inner manipur parliamentary Constituency
Out of the 32 assembly segments in the Inner Manipur Parliamentary constituency, Dr Meinya received maximum mandate of 16,280 votes out of the total strength of 22,726 electors in Andro assembly constituency whereas 16,136 voters of Thoubal AC stamped their approval to the eventual winner. The third highest votes gained by the Congress MP was in Khundrakpam AC where 10,393 voted in his favour. Dr Meinya, who elicited significant support in all the 32 assembly segments got the fewest  2626 votes from the electorates of Singjamei AC.


2009 Indian general election in Manipur, Details, Inner manipur parliamentary Constituency
The Congress candidate had won the same parliamentary seat in the previous Lok Sabha election (2004) with a victory margin of a little over 49,000. Dr nara was the nearest rival at that time, too. In the recent hustings, Dr Nara generated fair support in all the assembly segments where the average voting trend was over the 3000 mark with the exception of Nambol AC where he was preferred by only 1618 adults. Maximum number of Nambol electorates favoured former Parliamentarian Thounaojam Chaoba Singh. Chaoba who contested the 15th Lok Sabha election on MPP ticket polled 10,988 votes.


2009 Indian general election in Manipur, Details, Inner manipur parliamentary Constituency
The figure, in his home polling station, was also the most chaoba polled in the election. In spite of being the consensus candidate of a handful of national as well as regional political parties Chaoba finished a distant third tipping the one lakh barrier by only 1787 votes. Out of the total of 199,916 votes polled by Dr Nara, the CPI stalwart received maximum support of Lilong AC electorates with 10,898 from a total of 21,451 votes favouring the former Art and Culture Minister.


2009 Indian general election in Manipur, Details, Inner manipur parliamentary Constituency
Mandate of Thongju AC electorates too tilted heavily in favour of Dr Nara with 10,142 votes cast for the CPI nominee out of the total of 18,210. Election to the Inner Manipur parliamentary constituency for the 15th Lok Sabha was held on 22 April with a total of seven candidates in the fray. Former Chief Minister and BJP nominee W Nipamacha, L Kshetrani devi (RBCP), Abdul Rahman (Independent) and N Homendro (Ind) were the other candidates. Dr Meinya also led in all the four districts where franchise for the inner Parliamentary Constituency was conducted. The difference of victory margin between Dr Meinya and Dr Nara was the largest in Imphal East district with 10,298 votes separating the winner and nearest vanquished. On the other hand, Imphal West witnessed the fiercest contest between the two as the difference stood at only 2144 votes.


2009 Indian general election in Manipur, Details, Outer Manipur Parliamentary constituency
Out of 28 assembly segments in the Outer seat, Thangso Baite received mandate of 344,517 voters to represent them in the Parliament. Outer Parliamentary Constituency is also composed of six assembly segments of Thoubal district and Jiribam subdivision of Imphal East district, and Scheduled Tribe assembly segments spread across Tamenglong, Chandel, Ukhrul, Senapati and Churachandpur districts. Thangso, who faltered against Mani Charenamei in the 14th Lok Sabha election by 82,193 votes secured the maximum of 27,516 votes from electorates of Saikul AC against 15,607 for Charenamei in the 15th Lok Sabha election.


2009 Indian general election in Manipur, Details, Outer Manipur Parliamentary constituency
Compared to his nearest rival, Thangso was least influential among Mao AC electors where only 850 votes were polled for the INC candidate. On the other hand, the sitting MP was heavily favoured by the electors of Chingai AC in Ukhrul district as the maximum of 22,194 votes were cast for the PDA nominee. The least vote Charenamei managed from among the 28 assembly segments was in Sugnu AC under Thoubal district with only 106 voters choosing the PDA candidate.