Politics of Iceland

Political system of Iceland Íslensk stjórnmál(Icelandic)
Coat of arms of Iceland
Polity type	ParliamentaryRepublic
Constitution	Constitution of Iceland
Legislative branch
Name	Althing
Type	Unicameral
Meeting place	Alþingishúsið,Reykjavík
Presiding officer	Birgir Ármannsson,Speaker of the Althing
Appointer	Direct election
Executive branch
Head of State
Title	President of Iceland
Currently	Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson
Appointer	Direct election
Head of Government
Title	Prime Minister of Iceland
Currently	Bjarni Benediktsson
Cabinet
Name	Cabinet of Iceland
Current cabinet	Bjarni Beneiktsson cabinet
Leader	Prime Minister
Headquarters	Reykjavík
Ministries	12 Ministries
Judicial branch
Name	Judiciary of Iceland
Supreme Court of Iceland
Chief judge	Benedikt Bogason
Seat	Supreme Court Building

Thepolitics of Icelandtake place in the framework of aparliamentaryrepresentative democraticrepublic,whereby thepresidentis thehead of state,while theprime minister of Icelandserves as thehead of governmentin amulti-party system.Executive poweris exercised by the government.Legislative poweris vested in both thegovernmentand the parliament, theAlthingi.Thejudiciaryis independent of the executive and the legislature.

Icelandis arguably the world's oldestassembly democracy,and has been rated as a "full democracy" in 2021.

Executive branch

Cabinet of Iceland,seat of executive branch

Main office-holders

Office	Name	Party	Since
President	Guðni Th. Jóhannesson	Independent	1 August 2016
Prime Minister	Bjarni Benediktsson	Independence Party	9 April 2024

Elected to a four-year term, thePresidenthas limited powers and is poised in a largely ceremonial office that serves as a diplomat and figurehead. On 1 August 2016,Guðni Th. Jóhannessonbecame the new president of Iceland. He was re-elected with an overwhelming majority of the vote in the 2020presidential election.

The prime minister and cabinet exercise most executive functions. Thehead of governmentis theprime minister,who, together with the cabinet, takes care of theexecutivepart ofgovernment.The cabinet is appointed by the president after general elections toAlthing;however, this process is usually conducted by the leaders of the political parties, who decide among themselves after discussions which parties can form the cabinet and how its seats are to be distributed (under the condition that it has majority support in Althing). Only when the party leaders are unable to reach a conclusion by themselves in reasonable time does the president exercise this power and appoint the cabinet themselves. This has never happened since the republic was founded in 1944, but in 1942 the regent of the country (Sveinn Björnsson,who had been installed in that position by the Althing in 1941) appointed a non-parliamentary government. The regent had, for all practical purposes, the position of a president, and Sveinn in fact became the country's first president in 1944. The governments of Iceland have almost always been coalitions with two or more parties involved because no single political party has received a majority of seats in the Althing during Iceland's republican period. The extent of the political powers possessed by the office of the president is disputed by legal scholars in Iceland; several provisions of the constitution appear to give the president some important powers but other provisions and traditions suggest differently.

The president is elected every four years (last 2020), the cabinet is elected every four years (last 2021) and town council elections are held every four years (last 2018).

Legislative branch

Parliament of Iceland,seat of legislative branch.

The modern parliament called "Althing"or"Alþingi",was founded in 1845 as an advisory body to theDanishking.It was widely seen as a re-establishment of the assembly founded in 930 in theCommonwealthperiod and suspended in 1799. The Althing is composed of 63 members, elected every 4 years unless it is dissolved sooner.Suffragefor presidential and parliamentary elections is 18 years of age and is universal. Members of the Althing are elected on the basis of proportional representation from six constituencies. Until 1991, membership of the Althing was divided between a lower and upper house but this was changed to a fullyunicameralsystem.

Political parties and the elections

For other political parties, seeList of political parties in Iceland.An overview on elections and election results is included inElections in Iceland.

After four four-year terms as the world's first elected woman president, the widely popularVigdís Finnbogadóttirchose not to run for re-election in 1996.More than 86% of voters turned out in the June 29, 1996 presidential elections to give former leftist party chairmanÓlafur Ragnar Grímssona 41% plurality and relatively comfortable 12% victory margin over the closest of three other candidates. Traditionally limited to 6–12 weeks, Iceland's campaign season was marked by several intensely personal attacks on Ólafur Ragnar, a former finance minister who tried to erase memories of his controversial support of inflationary policies and opposition to theU.S.military presence at theNATObase inKeflavík.Ólafur Ragnar successfully used his largely ceremonial office to promote Icelandic trade abroad and family values at home. Thelast presidential electionstook place on June 27, 2020.

Thelast parliamentary electionstook place on September 25, 2021. A three-party coalition was formed following the2017 parliamentary electionsby theIndependence Party(Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn), theProgressive Party(Framsóknarflokkurinn) and theLeft-Green Movement(Vinstrihreyfingin – grænt framboð). These political parties were again the three largest in Iceland after the latest elections and subsequently continued the coalition for another term.This was the first time since 2009 in which existing coalition is renewed in Iceland.A total of 203,898 votes were cast consulting 80.1% of the 254,681 electorates.

Political history

1990s

In losing four seats in April1995 parliamentary elections,theIPandSDP(so-calledViðeygovernment) mustered a simple majority in the 63-seat Althing. However, Prime Minister and IP leaderDavíð Oddssonchose the resurgentProgressive Party(PP) as a more conservative partner to form a stronger and more stable majority with 40 seats. Splintered by factionalism over the economy and Iceland's role in theEuropean Union(EU), the SDP also suffered from being the only party to support Iceland's EU membership application.

2000s - 2010s

The beginning of the millennium saw a merger of all theleft partiesto form theSocial Democratic Alliance.Some members chose to join another new left party instead, theLeft-Green Movement.After the PP's loss in the2007 electionsits longstanding alliance with the IP ended despite still being able to form a majority. Instead, the IP's leaderGeir Haardechose a stronger but somewhat unstable coalition with the Social Democrats (theÞingvellirgovernment).

Geir's administration fell apart in January 2009 and he called for an early election before standing down as party leader. The Social Democrats subsequently formed an interim government with the LGM. In theresulting election,Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir's administration prevailed, the first time Icelanders voted for a majority left-wing government.

After the 2008 financial crisis, there has been an increasing fractionalization of the Icelandic party system. The increase in the number of parties has made it harder for coalition governments to form.What's more, since the initial resignation of the government in January 2009 after the banking collapse, revelations of subsequent political scandals have resulted in the government collapsing in 2016, following thePanama Papers,and again in 2017, following revelations of impropriety within the ranks of the political class; both instances culminated in anti-government protests being staged.Organized protests held to highlight and challenge political corruption since 2008 have therefore come to stress the necessity for the newIcelandic constitutionthat was co-drafted by the 2009 leftist government and select members of the public to be enshrined into law.

Political system of Iceland

2020s

After the 2021 parliamentaryelection,the new government was, just like the previous government, a tri-party coalition of theIndependence Party,theProgressive Partyand theLeft-Green Movement,headed by Prime MinisterKatrín Jakobsdóttir.In April 2024, Bjarni Benediktsson of the Independence party succeeded Katrín Jakobsdóttir as prime minister.

Judicial branch

The judiciary consists of the Supreme Court (Hæstiréttur) and district courts. Justices are appointed for life by the minister of justice. The Constitution protects the judiciary from infringement by the other two branches.

Administrative divisions

Iceland is divided into8 regions,which are further subdivided into77 municipalities.

Until 1988, Iceland was divided in 23 counties (sýslur,singularsýsla) and 14 independent towns* (kaupstaðir,singularkaupstaður);Akranes*,Akureyri*,Árnessýsla,Austur-Barðastrandarsýsla,Austur-Húnavatnssýsla,Austur-Skaftafellssýsla,Borgarfjarðarsýsla,Dalasýsla,Eyjafjarðarsýsla,Gullbringusýsla,Hafnarfjörður*,Húsavík*,Ísafjörður*,Keflavík*,Kjósarsýsla,Kópavogur*,Mýrasýsla,Neskaupstaður*,Norður-Ísafjarðarsýsla,Norður-Múlasýsla,Norður-Þingeyjarsýsla,Ólafsfjörður*,Rangárvallasýsla,Reykjavík*,Sauðárkrókur*,Seyðisfjörður*,Siglufjörður*,Skagafjarðarsýsla,Snæfellsnes- og Hnappadalssýsla,Strandasýsla,Suður-Múlasýsla,Suður-Þingeyjarsýsla,Vestmannaeyjar*,Vestur-Barðastrandarsýsla,Vestur-Húnavatnssýsla,Vestur-Ísafjarðarsýsla,Vestur-Skaftafellssýsla

International organization participation

Arctic Council,Australia Group,BIS,CBSS,CE,EAPC,EBRD,ECE,EFTA,FAO,IAEA,IBRD,ICAO,ICCt,ICC,ICRM,IDA,IEA(observer),IFC,IFRCS,IHO,ILO,IMF,IMO,Inmarsat,Intelsat,Interpol,IOC,ISO,ITU,ITUC,NATO,NC,NEA,NIB,OECD,OPCW,OSCE,PCA,UN,UNCTAD,UNESCO,UNMIK,UNU,UPU,WCO,WEU(associate),WHO,WIPO,WMO,WTrO

See also

• List of Icelandic ministries
• election history
• Icelandic constitutional reform, 2010–13

Further reading

• Baldur Thorhallsson (ed.). 2018.Small States and Shelter Theory: Iceland's External Affairs.Routledge.
• Baldur Thorhallsson (ed.). 2021.Iceland's Shelter-Seeking Behavior: From Settlement to Republic.Cornell University Library
• Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson. 2007.Íslenska stjórnkerfið.Háskólaútgáfan.
• Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson. 2021.Elítur og valdakerfi á Íslandi.Háskólaútgáfan.
• Hulda Thórisdóttir, Ólafur Th. Harðarson, Eva H. Önnudóttir, and Agnar Freyr Helgason. 2021.Electoral Politics in Crisis After the Great Recession: Change, Fluctuations and Stability in Iceland.Routledge.

External links

• Government Offices of Iceland