Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Iceland |
 This article is part of the series: |
|
|
|
Constitution
Institutions
Divisions
Foreign Affairs
|
|
Other countries · Atlas Politics Portal |
Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir (born 31 December 1954 in Reykjavík, Iceland) is an Icelandic politician and Chairman of the Social Democratic Alliance (Samfylkingin), the second largest political party in Iceland's parliament, the Althing. She was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs of Iceland on May 24, 2007.
Ingibjörg started her political career in the Women's Alliance (Samtök um kvennalista), a party she represented in Reykjavík's City Council from 1982 to 1988. She also represented the party in Parliament from 1991 to 1994.
Ingibjörg became Mayor of Reykjavík in 1994 when the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn) lost the majority it had held in the city council for 12 years to a coalition of all the other major political parties in the country, led by Ingibjörg. She was the city's Mayor until 2003. She resigned due to demands from the Progressive Party and the Left-Green Movement who were unhappy that she was representing the Alliance in the parliamentary elections of 2003. Because of her popularity, her candidacy could have impacted the electoral results of the associated parties. They felt this was unacceptable, since they were part of the coalition that brought her to power as Mayor, the position which was the foundation of her popularity.
Up until the resignation as Mayor of Reykjavík in 2003, Ingibjörg had been a successful politician. Some argue that she lost credibility in the run-up to the 2003 election, when she resigned as Mayor. In 2005 she became Leader of the Alliance after a sharply contested election between her and the previous party leader Össur Skarphéðinsson.
Supporters of Ingibjörg compare her with the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and say that she is the natural choice for Iceland's next Prime Minister.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Valgerður Sverrisdóttir |
Foreign Minister of Iceland 2007-present |
Succeeded by incumbent |
| Preceded by Árni Sigfússon |
Mayor of Reykjavík 1994–2003 |
Succeeded by Þórólfur Árnason |
| Preceded by Össur Skarphéðinsson |
Chairman of The Social Democratic Alliance 2005-present |
Succeeded by incumbent |
