President of Iceland
President of Iceland
Forseti Íslands | |
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Office of the President | |
Member of | State Council of Iceland |
Residence | Bessastaðir |
Seat | Garðabær, Capital Region |
Term length |
Four years Renewable indefinitely as long as the incumbent wins presidential elections or is uncontested. |
Constituting instrument | Constitution of Iceland |
Precursor | Monarch of Iceland |
Formation | 17 June 1944 |
First holder | Sveinn Björnsson |
Succession | |
Salary | 2,048,229 ISK monthly (2013) |
Website |
english forseti |
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Iceland |
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The President of Iceland (Icelandic: Forseti Íslands) is Iceland's elected head of state. The president is elected to a four-year term by universal adult suffrage and has limited powers. The constitution does not limit the number of terms the president is allowed to serve. There have been five presidents since Iceland became independent from Denmark in 1944. The incumbent is Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, who is now in his fifth term as president, first elected in 1996, and most recently re-elected in 2012.
The presidential residence is situated in Bessastaðir in Garðabær, near the capital city Reykjavík. The nation's constitution specifies that when the president cannot perform the duties of the office, such as when he or she is abroad or under anesthesia, the prime minister, the president of the parliament, and the president of the supreme court collectively assume the power of the office. The three vote on any presidential decisions that must be made during that time. The president is also the designated grand master of the Order of the Falcon.
List of presidents
Term: 1 appointed · 2 died in office · 3 uncontested
Nº | President | Took office | Left office | Duration | Term | Prime ministers | |
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1 | Sveinn Björnsson (1881–1952) |
17 June 1944 | 25 January 19522 | 7 years, 7 months, 8 days (2,778 days) |
1 (1944)1 | Björn Þórðarson Ólafur Thors Stefán Jóhann Stefánsson Ólafur Thors Steingrímur Steinþórsson | |
2 (1945)3 | |||||||
3 (1949)3 | |||||||
Regent of Iceland 1941–1944, later became the first president of Iceland. In 1950 considered forming a government that did not rely on parliamentary support after leaders of the parliamentary parties had reached an impasse. The only president to die in office; this led to a vacancy, the powers of the office being constitutionally vested in the prime minister (Steingrímur Steinþórsson), the president of parliament (Jón Pálmason) and the president of the supreme court (Jón Ásbjörnsson) jointly. | |||||||
2 | Ásgeir Ásgeirsson (1894–1972) |
1 August 1952 | 1 August 1968 | 16 years (5,844 days) |
4 (1952) | Steingrímur Steinþórsson Ólafur Thors Hermann Jónasson Emil Jónsson Ólafur Thors Bjarni Benediktsson Ólafur Thors Bjarni Benediktsson | |
5 (1956)3 | |||||||
6 (1960)3 | |||||||
7 (1964)3 | |||||||
First president elected by popular vote. | |||||||
3 | Kristján Eldjárn (1916–1982) |
1 August 1968 | 1 August 1980 | 12 years (4,383 days) |
8 (1968) | Bjarni Benediktsson Jóhann Hafstein Ólafur Jóhannesson Geir Hallgrímsson Ólafur Jóhannesson Benedikt Sigurðsson Gröndal Gunnar Thoroddsen | |
9 (1972)3 | |||||||
10 (1976)3 | |||||||
At one point considered forming a government that did not rely on parliamentary support after leaders of the parliamentary parties had reached an impasse. | |||||||
4 | Vigdís Finnbogadóttir (1930–) |
1 August 1980 | 1 August 1996 | 16 years (5,844 days) |
11 (1980) | Gunnar Thoroddsen Steingrímur Hermannsson Þorsteinn Pálsson Steingrímur Hermannsson Davíð Oddsson | |
12 (1984)3 | |||||||
13 (1988) | |||||||
14 (1992)3 | |||||||
Was the world's first elected female president and overwhelmingly won a contested election in 1988. | |||||||
5 | Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (1943–) |
1 August 1996 | Incumbent | 19 years, 199 days (7138 days) |
15 (1996) | Davíð Oddsson Halldór Ásgrímsson Geir Haarde Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson | |
16 (2000)3 | |||||||
17 (2004) | |||||||
18 (2008)3 | |||||||
19 (2012) | |||||||
First president to use the constitutional authorisation to deny signing a law from the parliament, thus sending the law to a national referendum, on three occasions. |
Latest election
Candidate | Party | Votes | % | |
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Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson | independent | 84,036 | 52.78 | |
Thóra Arnórsdóttir | independent | 52,795 | 33.16 | |
Ari Trausti Guðmundsson | independent | 13,762 | 8.64 | |
Herdis Thorgeirsdottir | independent | 4,189 | 2.63 | |
Andrea Ólafsdóttir | independent | 2,867 | 1.80 | |
Hannes Bjarnason | independent | 1,556 | 0.98 | |
Valid votes | 159,205 | 97.52 | ||
Invalid/Blank votes | 4,046 | 2.48 | ||
Total | 163,251 | 100.00 | ||
Electorate/Turnout | 235,495 | 69.32 | ||
Source: Nohlen & Stöver | ||||
Last election (2008) — Next election (2016) |
See also
References
External links
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