In the shadow of bubbling lava – the presidential election in Iceland | Polarjournal
Iceland’s new president and radiant winner is Halla Tómasdóttir. The economist and co-founder of Reykjavik University won by almost 20,000 votes ahead of favorite ex-prime minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir and will become the country’s head of state on August 1, 2024. (Photo: Aldís Pálsdóttir via Wiki Commons CC BY-SA 4.0)

Iceland was once again at the center of media attention last week, as the volcano near the town of Gríndavik erupted for the fourth time. In the midst of the hustle and bustle surrounding this renewed outbreak, the presidential election was almost somewhat lost. But it was exciting, surprising and, above all, trend-setting. In the end, three women stood at the top of the podium, but in a different order than perhaps expected.

Not the well-known former head of government Katrín Jakobsdóttir of the Left-Green Movement, but independent Halla Tómasdóttir won the presidential elections last Saturday. The 56-year-old economist received more than 34 percent of the votes and will officially become the new head of state of Iceland on August 1, 2024. She is only Iceland’s second female head of state since the country gained independence in 1944. The first female head of state (and the first woman in such a position worldwide) was Vigdis Finnbogadóttir, who led Iceland from 1980 to 1996.

The role of the Icelandic head of state is often described as rather limited, but it is not restricted to ceremonial functions, but also has a certain political weight. For example, she will appoint the cabinet of ministers and, after the next parliamentary elections, will appoint the head of government to form the government. She also signs laws that only come into force as a result and can dissolve parliament if necessary.

Tómasdóttir’s victory, who had lost to the previous incumbent Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson in the 2016 election, came at the expense of former Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, who came in second with more than 25 percent of the vote. Jakobsdóttir, who is actually very popular and has been guiding Iceland’s political fortunes since 2017, announced rather surprisingly in April that she would resign from her duties as prime minister and chair of the Left-Green Movement of Iceland in order to stand as a presidential candidate. However, her attempt was not entirely successful, although she was slightly ahead of Tómasdóttir during the election campaign. After her defeat, Ms. Jakobsdóttir, who had lost the election, announced that she would not be standing for re-election. Whether she will devote herself to her career as a crime novelist (she is co-author of the book “Reykjavik: A Crime Story”) is not known.

Although she did not win, Jakobsdóttir should not be entirely dissatisfied with the result. She was one of three women to stand on the winners’ podium after the election. Alongside the winner, Halla Tómasdóttir, and the runner-up, Jakobsdóttir, scientist Halla Hrund Logadóttir came in third, garnering around 15.7 percent of the vote. She beat the first man on the list of twelve candidates, Jón Gnarr, by almost 12,000 votes. More than 80 percent of the 266,935 registered voters cast their ballots in the election, and a total of over 75 percent of the votes cast went to the three women, which corresponds to around 60.2 percent of all those eligible to vote in Iceland. A pretty clear verdict from Icelandic society and almost as sensational as lava bubbling up from the earth.

Dr. Michael Wenger, Polar Journal AG

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