I talk about Iceland's system of government from executive to legislative and how elections work in the country.

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Post author By Charlie February 4, 2021
The Government System of Iceland
theweeklyrambler.com/the-government-system-of-iceland/
Iceland is an island nation located in
the North Atlantic Ocean, other nearby
land masses and islands include
Scandinavia, Greenland, the Faroe
Islands and the United Kingdom, it is
considered a part of Europe and thus is
the most sparsely populated country in
Europe. The country’s capital city is
Reykjavik which is found on the islands
western coast. The country is
surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean
which also includes the Greenland Sea
and Norwegian Sea.
The Landnamabok, a medieval
Icelandic manuscript, says that the
settlement of Iceland begun in
874 AD with the arrival of the
Norwegian chieftain Ingolfr Arnarson as the first permanent settler, over the centuries
Norwegians and some other Scandinavians begun emigrating to Iceland, many bringing
with them slaves, or as they were called, thralls, who were of Gaelic origin.
The Althing was established in 930 AD and is seen as the world’s oldest functioning
legislative assemblies, and thus the Icelandic Commonwealth was created, which was an
independent state. Civil strife in the country caused by Icelandic chieftains, known as
the Sturlung Era, led to the nation pledging fealty to the Norwegian monarchy in 1262,
this agreement was called Old Covenant. The Kalmar Union united the Kingdoms of
Sweden, Norway and Denmark in 1397 and so Iceland became a possession of this
Union.
Sweden’s succession from the Kalmar Union led to Iceland coming under Denmark-
Norway from 1523, Denmark had large influence on Iceland and they violently forced
Lutheranism on to the island in 1550. The French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars
stoked ambitions for independence in Iceland and led to the breakup of Denmark-Norway
with Iceland becoming a Danish Dependency, the movements for independence in
Iceland led to the Danish crown giving Iceland a constitution and limited self-rule, but it
would not be until 1918 where the Danish-Icelandic Act of Union recognized Iceland as
independent and sovereign, this established the Kingdom of Iceland and made a personal
union with Denmark, with the Danish King also King of Iceland.

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A two-part referendum in Iceland in 1944 would abolish this union with Denmark and
lead to the implementation of a Republic in Iceland, the Nazi occupation of Denmark
during World War II was a strong reason for this occurring. Industrialization of fisheries
and the aid from the Marshall Plan after World War II allowed Iceland to thrive, and has
since become of the wealthiest and developed nations in the world, although the 2008
financial crisis significantly affected the country’s economy, it also made a dramatic
comeback by 2014. The country is part of NATO and the European Economic Area, but is
not a part of the European Union.
The largest religion is Christianity under the Church of Iceland, and the country’s official
language is Icelandic. The country’s currency is the Icelandic Krona and the country’s
population is over 341,000.
Government Type
Coat of Arms of Iceland.

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Iceland is a parliamentary representative democratic republic and has a President who is
Head of State and a Prime Minister who is Head of Government. The Althingi is the
unicameral chamber of parliament and makes up legislative government. Multiple parties
are allowed.
Iceland is seen as one of the most fair and free democratic countries in the world.
The Executive Government
Offices of the Prime Minister and Cabinet of Iceland. Photo by Guðmundur D. Haraldsson, CC
BY-SA 3.0. Source.
The President is the Head of State, representing the country abroad and exercising the
legislative power jointly with the Althingi (Iceland’s unicameral parliament).
Presidential Temporary and Permanent Absence
If the President dies in office or reigns then an election will elect another President via an
early election and they will have a full term ending on the 31 July on the fourth year.
If the President is temporarily unable to perform duties for example due to illness or if the
Presidency is vacant due to waiting for the election of a new President, then the Prime
Minister, President of the Althingi, and the President of the Supreme Court will exercise
collective authority over the Presidency, the President of the Althingi will preside over
their meetings, decisions are made by majority if there is a difference in opinion.
Presidential Duties
The President’s duties involve management of the executive government and also
appointment, transfer and removal of public officials as provided by law. Those who are
appointed to public office must hold Icelandic nationality.
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The President concludes treaties and international agreements. Treaties that relate to
renouncement or servitude of territory or territorial waters or that requires changes to the
State system must be approved by the Althingi.
The President must convene the Althingi within 10 weeks after a parliamentary election
and also open its regular sessions each year. The President can choose to adjourn
the Althingi for a limited time no longer than two weeks and cannot perform this action
more than once per year. The Althingi can authorize the President to not adjourn it. When
the Althingi is adjourned it must be brought back into session by the President if
authorized to do so by a majority of its members.
The President can dissolve the Althingi as provided by law such as for regular elections or
due to early elections, such as may be related to a loss of confidence, failure of plebiscite
to remove President or endless deadlock, fresh elections must take place within 45-days.
The President can submit bills and draft resolutions to the Althingi. The President signs
bills into law that are passed by the Althingi, the President can choose to reject a bill, in
this case the bill will still get force of law but when possible, a referendum will be held as
to whether to reject or accept the bill, if rejected then the bill becomes void, if not then it
remains law.
Under cases of urgency the President has decree power to issue provisional laws whenever
the Althingi is not in session. These laws must abide by the Constitution and will always
be submitted to the Althingi once it convenes. If the law is not approved by the Althingi or
no action is taken on it within six weeks of convening then the law becomes void. The
President can also issue a provisional Budget if the Althingi has not for the current fiscal
year.
If there are strong reasons then the President can pardon or give amnesty to individuals.
The President cannot absolve a Minister from prosecution or punishment that has been
imposed by the Court of Impeachment, unless the Althingi gives its approval.
The President appoints the Judges of the country’s Supreme Court as well as other higher
courts, they are proposed to the President by the Ministry of Interior selection
committee.
Presidential Removal
A referendum can be held to remove the President from office for violation of
constitution, high treason etc. The referendum or plebiscite must first be adopted by
the Althingi via at least three-fourths of the members of that chamber. Once the
resolution is adopted the President cannot perform duties until the result of the plebiscite.
The plebiscite is held within two months, if it fails to remove the President then
the Althingi will be dissolved and fresh parliamentary elections held, if it is succesful then
the President is removed from office and elections held to replace them.
The Government and Prime Minister

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The Prime Minister is Head of Government, they are appointed by the President after
parliamentary elections based on who they believe holds the confidence of the Althingi. It
is important for the Prime Minister and their government to hold the confidence of
the Althingi to remain in power, the Prime Minister and Ministers are collectively
responsible and so loss of confidence vote means the entire government must resign.
The President appoints and removes Ministers of the Government at the advice of the
Prime Minister, these Ministers are delegated to areas of Government, they lead them and
make executive decisions within them that come within their competence. Ministers are
responsible for their executive actions as well as their lawful conduct within office. The
Althingi can impeach Ministers and the Court of Impeachment will have competence on
these cases, such may lead to impeached Minister/s removal.
There is a State Council which is made up of the President, Prime Minister and other
Ministers, the President presides over it. It is the main point of contact between the
President and the Cabinet of Iceland. Through this the President must be kept informed
on important states matters and of legislation. Meetings of the State Council can also be
used by the Government to compel the President to do something – such as dissolve or
adjourn the Althingi.
The Cabinet of Iceland are the Prime Minister and Ministers and the highest executive
decision-making body of the Government. Ministerial meetings are held to discuss new
legislative proposals and other important State matters, they can also be called if a
Minister wishes to raise a matter there, the President directs the Prime Minister to
preside over these meetings.
Acts of Government and other measures are signed by the President and countersigned by
the competent Minister to have effect.
The Legislative Government

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Meeting place of the Althingi. Photo by Zinneke from Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 3.0.
Source.
The Althingi is the unicameral parliament of Iceland, it currently has a set 63 members
elected every 4-years. Its purpose is to scrutinize introduced legislation and resolutions,
debate them and possibly amend them and then either pass or reject them, where then
the bill if passed will go to the President of the Republic to be signed into law. It is also the
job of the Althingi to scrutinize government decisions and executive positions, they can
choose to withdraw confidence via a resolution which if successful will lead to the Prime
Minister and Government resigning, in-turn the Government themselves can put
something like an important Government bill to a question of confidence.
The Althingi can also bring forth a resolution to remove the President for violation of
office via a plebiscite and they can impeach Ministers in violation of their office and oath
which will be decided upon by the Court of Impeachment.
With permission of the Althingi its members may request information from Ministers or
an answer with regard to public matters.
The Althingi also approves the annual state budget for the fiscal year.
Legislative bills and resolutions can be introduced by the Government via a Minister or by
members of the Althingi. All bills require three readings before they are fully passed.
Ministers who are not also members of the Althingi have the right to attend sessions and
participate in debates, but they cannot vote if they are not members.
The Althingi can appoint committees of investigation into matters deemed important to
the public interest. The Althingi can grant these committees powers to request oral or
written reports from officials and other individuals.

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Members of the Althingi elect a President of the Althingi after parliamentary elections
have taken place. The President of the Althingi presides over its sessions and enforces the
rules of procedure and represents the Althingi in an impartial manner.
The Electoral System
Iceland’s current electoral districts, as is apparent most of the island nation’s population is
concentrated around the capital city Reykjavik, while most the rest of the island is sparsely
populated and so only requires a few large electoral districts for adequate representation.
Image made by Pharexia from Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0. Source.
Presidential elections happen every 4-years and the President is elected by direct popular
vote and only needs a simple majority. If there was only one candidate nominated for
President then they win by default without needing to hold a vote.
To be a candidate for President one must be at least 35-years-old and be registered to vote
in elections. Candidates require at least 1,500 voters (no more than 3,000 voters) to
nominate them for the presidential election. The President cannot also be a member of
the Althingi and cannot receive paid employment while President in either a public or
private role.
Parliamentary elections to elect the members of the Althingi are held every 4-years.
Members are elected from multi-seat electoral districts using a proportional
representation system where parties reaching at least a 5% threshold of the vote
nationwide will be guaranteed a proportional share of seats as best as possible.
After parliamentary elections the Prime Minister is nominated by the majority party or
coalition and then appointed by the President of the Republic.
Laws relating to amendment of electoral district boundaries and methods of allocation of
seats require a two-thirds majority to pass. There is National Election Board that
determines fair seat numbers among electoral districts.

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To vote in elections one must be an Icelandic national who is at least 18-years-old and
who is permanently domiciled in Iceland on the date of the election, unless exceptions
have been made on this last part by law. Those who are eligible to vote are also eligible to
run as a candidate for the Althingi, just as long as they are not disqualified for reasons
such as holding certain positions/offices, such as a Supreme Court Judge, or if they do not
have a so-called “unblemished reputation”.
Sources
Source for this comes from Iceland’s constitution of 1944 with amendments through to
2013 (constituteproject.org) and so should be as up to date as possible but of course I may
have missed some things, misinterpreted others things and the constitution can again be
amended and so this post may eventually become outdated, so when using this in a
serious capacity cross research is recommended.
Additional information from the CIA World Factbook’s Iceland profile.
Changes to the country’s constitution are proposed by the Althingi, this must be approved
via a special majority, then a newly elected Althingi must pass the amendment again via a
special majority as well and then finally it must be confirmed by the President. Changes
that involve Article 62, to do with the Evangelical Lutheran Church being the state church
of Iceland, also requires a public referendum to be amended.
Next up will be a big one, it is indeed the biggest democracy in the world – it’s the
government system of India! So stay tuned for that.
Check out another post like this – Denmark’s Government System.
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