Icelanders vote on whether they want to join the EU

An election worker assists a voter at a polling station inside Reykjavik City Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland, Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. Marco Di Marco/AP hide caption toggle caption Marco Di Marco/AP Voters in the tiny Nordic nation of Iceland cast their ballots on Saturday on whether to restart talks on the country joining the European Union. Polls closed at 10:00 p.m. local time and early results indicate an extremely tight race, according to RÚV, Iceland's broadcaster. Hours after the last votes were cast, the "yes" camp was narrowly leading, it reported. This is not the first time Iceland has considered joining the EU. The government was in talks with the EU was back in 2013. Iceland had just come out of a financial meltdown, after the global economic crisis. Talks stalled in part because Icelanders worried they would lose sovereign control over their fisheries, their largest export. If the "yes" vote wins the country does not automatically become a member of the EU. Negotiations would reopen with Brussels, and if an agreement is reached there would be a second referendum on whether Iceland should join the economic pact. "This is a good day," Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir tol...