Iceland centre-right wins election, final count shows

REYJAVIK - Agence France-Presse

Progressive Party supporters celebrate following general elections on Saturday, April 27, 2013, in Reykjavik, Iceland. Five years after Iceland's economic collapse, early returns signaled that voters are favoring the return of a center-right, Eurosceptic government, widely blamed for the nation's financial woes. AP Photo/Brynjar Gauti

Iceland's centre-right opposition scored a clear victory in the island's parliamentary poll, allowing the two parties to kick off negotiations for a coalition government, a final count Sunday showed.

The right-wing Independence Party was ahead in the popular vote with 26.7 percent, giving it 19 seats in parliament, and its leader Bjarni Benediktsson was expected to seek a government with the support of the agrarian-centrist Progressive Party, which got 24.4 percent of the vote and also 19 legislative seats.