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Political system of Iceland Íslensk stjórnmál (Icelandic) | |
|---|---|
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| Polity type | Parliamentary republic |
| Constitution | Constitution of Iceland |
| Legislative branch | |
| Name | Althing |
| Type | Unicameral |
| Meeting place | Alþingishúsið,Reykjavík |
| Presiding officer | Þórunn Sveinbjarnardóttir,Speaker of the Althing |
| Appointer | Direct election |
| Executive branch | |
| Head of state | |
| Title | President of Iceland |
| Currently | Halla Tómasdóttir |
| Appointer | Direct election |
| Head of government | |
| Title | Prime Minister of Iceland |
| Currently | Kristrún Frostadóttir |
| Cabinet | |
| Name | Cabinet of Iceland |
| Current cabinet | Cabinet of Kristrún Frostadóttir |
| 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 |
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 Iceland portal |
Thepolitics of Iceland take place in the framework of aparliamentaryrepresentative democraticrepublic, whereby thepresident is thehead of state, while theprime minister of Iceland serves as thehead of government in amulti-party system.Executive power is exercised by the government.Legislative power is vested in both thegovernment and the parliament, theAlthing. Thejudiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.
Iceland is arguably the world's oldestassembly democracy,[1] and has been rated as a "full democracy" in 2021.[2]
| Office | Name | Party | Since |
|---|---|---|---|
| President | Halla Tómasdóttir | Independent | 1 August 2024 |
| Prime Minister | Kristrún Frostadóttir | Social Democratic Alliance | 21 December 2024 |
Elected to a four-year term, thePresident has limited powers and is poised in a largely ceremonial office that serves as a diplomat and figurehead.On 1 August 2024,Halla Tómasdóttir was elected as the current President.
The prime minister and cabinet exercise most executive functions. Thehead of government is theprime minister, who, together with the cabinet, takes care of theexecutive part 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 2024), the cabinet is elected every four years (last 2021) and town council elections are held every four years (last 2022).
The modern parliament, called the "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 theCommonwealth period and suspended in 1799. The Althing is composed of 63 members, elected every 4 years unless it is dissolved sooner.Suffrage for 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 fullyunicameral system.
After four four-year terms as the world's first elected woman president, the widely popularVigdís Finnbogadóttir chose not to run for re-election in 1996.[3] More than 86% of voters turned out in the 29 June 1996 presidential elections to give former leftist party chairmanÓlafur Ragnar Grímsson a 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 theNATO base inKeflavík. Ólafur Ragnar successfully used his largely ceremonial office to promote Icelandic trade abroad and family values at home. Thelast presidential elections took place on 27 June 2020.
Thelast parliamentary elections took place on 25 September 2021. A three-party coalition was formed following the2017 parliamentary elections by 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.[4] This was the first time since 2009 in which existing coalition is renewed in Iceland.[5] A total of 203,898 votes were cast consulting 80.1% of the 254,681 electorates.[6]
In losing four seats in April1995 parliamentary elections, theIP andSDP (so-calledViðey government) mustered a simple majority in the 63-seat Althing. However, Prime Minister and IP leaderDavíð Oddsson chose 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.
The beginning of the millennium saw a merger of all theleft parties to form theSocial Democratic Alliance. Some members chose to join another new left party instead, theLeft-Green Movement. After the PP's loss in the2007 elections its longstanding alliance with the IP ended despite still being able to form a majority. Instead, the IP's leaderGeir Haarde chose a stronger but somewhat unstable coalition with the Social Democrats (theÞingvellir government).
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.[7] 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.[8] Organized protests held to highlight and challenge political corruption since 2008 have therefore come to stress the necessity for the newIcelandic constitution that was co-drafted by the 2009 leftist government and select members of the public to be enshrined into law.[9]
After the 2021 parliamentaryelection, the new government was, just like the previous government, a tri-party coalition of theIndependence Party, theProgressive Party and theLeft-Green Movement, headed by Prime MinisterKatrín Jakobsdóttir.[10] In April 2024, Bjarni Benediktsson of the Independence party succeeded Katrín Jakobsdóttir as prime minister.[11] In November 2024, centre-leftSocial Democratic Alliance became the biggest party in asnap election, meaning Social DemocraticKristrun Frostadottir became the next Prime Minister of Iceland.[12]
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.
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
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| Parliamentary elections | |
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| Presidential elections | |
| Municipal elections | |
| Referendums | |
| Constitutional Assembly | |
