Contents

President of Iceland

Head of state of Iceland

President of Iceland
Forseti Íslands (Icelandic)
Presidential Coat of Arms
Presidential Standard
Incumbent Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson since 1 August 2016
Office of the President
Style	Mr President (informal) His Excellency (diplomatic)
Member of	State Council of Iceland
Residence	Bessastaðir
Seat	Garðabær, Iceland
Appointer	Popular vote
Term length	Four years, renewable
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Iceland
Precursor	King of Iceland
Formation	17 June 1944; 80 years ago (1944-06-17)
First holder	Sveinn Björnsson
Succession	Line of succession
Salary	€289,000 annually[1]
Website	forseti.is/en (in English) forseti.is (in Icelandic)

Politics of Iceland
Government Constitution of Iceland Law Taxation Constitutional reform
Legislature Althing Speaker Birgir Ármannsson (D) Members of Parliament Constituencies
Executive President of Iceland Guðni Th. Jóhannesson (I) Prime Minister of Iceland Bjarni Benediktsson (D) Cabinet
Judiciary Supreme Court of Iceland President Benedikt Bogason Justices of the Court
Elections Presidential Parliamentary 2012 referendum
Political parties List of political parties
Administrative divisions Regions (Landshlutar) Municipalities (Sveitarfélög) Localities (Kaupstaðir)
Foreign relations Diplomatic missions of Iceland in Iceland Iceland and the European Union Cod Wars (1950s / 1970s)
Iceland portal Other countries
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The president of Iceland (Icelandic: Forseti Íslands) is the head of stateofIceland. The incumbent is Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson, who declined to run for a third term after being elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020.

Halla Tómasdóttirispresident-elect after winning the 2024 Icelandic presidential election, and is scheduled to take office on 1 August.^[2]

The president is elected to a four-year term by popular vote, is not term-limited, and has limited powers.

Historically, while first-term elections have often been hard-fought, an incumbent president who decides to run again for office has usually run unopposed, or they have won re-election with an overwhelming majority of the vote when opposed. The 2012 election was a notable exception to this, where incumbent Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson won with only 52.78% of the vote.

The presidential residence is situated in BessastaðirinGarðabær, near the capital city Reykjavík.

Iceland was the first country to have an elected female head of state when Vigdís Finnbogadóttir assumed Iceland's presidency on 1 August 1980. ^[3]

Origin[edit]

When Iceland became a republic in 1944 by the passing of a new constitution the position of King of Iceland was simply replaced by the president of Iceland. A transitional provision of the new constitution stipulated that the first president be elected by the Parliament.

Etymology[edit]

The term for president in Icelandic is forseti. The word forseti means one who sits foremost (sá sem fremst situr) in Old Norse/Icelandic or literally fore-sitter. It is the name of one of the Æsir, the god of justice and reconciliation in Norse mythology. He is generally identified with Fosite, a god of the Frisians.

Powers and duties[edit]

Executive powers[edit]

Cabinet[edit]

The president appoints ministers to the Cabinet of Iceland, determines their number and division of assignments. Ministers are not able to resign and must be discharged by the president. The ministers are delegated the president's executive powers and are solely responsible for their actions.

In the aftermath of general elections, the president has the role to designate a party leader (the one that the president considers most likely to be able to form a majority coalition government) to formally start negotiations to form a government.^[4] Sveinn Björnsson and Ásgeir Ásgeirsson played highly active roles in the formation of governments, attempting to set up governments that suited their political preferences, whereas Kristján Eldjárn and Vigdís Finnbogadóttir were passive and neutral as to individuals and parties comprising the government.^[5]

State Council[edit]

The president and the Cabinet meet in the State Council. The Cabinet must inform the president of important matters of the state and drafted bills. During meetings the Cabinet may also suggest convening, adjourning or dissolving the Parliament.

Prosecution and pardoning[edit]

The president can decide that the prosecution for an offense be discontinued and can also grant pardon and amnesty.

Legislative powers[edit]

Article 2 of the constitution states that the president and the Parliament jointly exercise the legislative power. The president signs bills passed by the Parliament into law and can choose not to sign them, thus in effect vetoing them. Bills vetoed by the president still take effect, should the Parliament not withdraw them, but they must be confirmed in a referendum. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (who served 1996–2016) is the only president to have vetoed legislation from Parliament, having done so only on three occasions (2004, 2010, 2011). This power was originally intended to be used only in extremely extenuating circumstances.^[6]

The president has the power to submit bills and resolutions to the Parliament which it must take under consideration. Should the Parliament not be in session, the president can issue provisional laws which must conform with the constitution. Provisional laws become void if the Parliament does not confirm them when it convenes. No president has ever submitted bills nor resolutions, nor issued provisional laws.

Article 30 of the constitution states that the president can grant exceptions from laws. No president has yet exercised this authority.

Parliament[edit]

The president convenes the Parliament after general elections and formally dissolves it. They can temporarily adjourn its sessions and move them if they deems so necessary. Furthermore, the president opens all regular sessions of the Parliament each year.

Ceremonial duties[edit]

The president is the designated grand master of the Order of the Falcon.

Detailed powers[edit]

Source:^[7]

Compensation[edit]

The president receives a monthly salary of 2,480,341 ISK. Article 9 of the constitution states the salary cannot be lowered for an incumbent president.

Residence[edit]

Article 12 of the constitution states that the president shall reside in or near Reykjavík. Since inception the official residence of the president has been Bessastaðir which is in Álftanes.

Eligibility[edit]

Articles 4 and 5 of the constitution set the following qualifications for holding the presidency:

• meet the qualifications specified for members of the Althingi
• be at least thirty-five years old
• have at least 1,500 commendations

Succession[edit]

Articles 7 and 8 of the constitution state that when the president dies or is otherwise unable to perform their duties, such as when they are abroad or sick, the prime minister, the president of the Parliament and the president of the Supreme Court shall collectively assume the power of the office until the president can resume their duties or a new president has been elected. Their meetings are led by the president of the Parliament where they vote on any presidential decision.

If the office of the president becomes vacant because of death or resignation, a new president shall be elected by the general public to a four-year term ending on 1 August in the fourth year after the elections. Sveinn Björnsson remains the only president to die in office in 1952, triggering a presidential election one year ahead of schedule.

Removal[edit]

Article 11 of the constitution lays out the process by which the president can be removed from office. It states that the president does not bear responsibility for the actions of their government and that they can not be prosecuted without consent of the Parliament. A referendum instigated by the Parliament with 3/4 support must approve of their removal. Once the Parliament has approved of the referendum, the president must temporarily step aside until the results of the referendum are known. The referendum must be held within two months of the vote, and, should the removal be rejected by the people, then the Parliament must immediately be dissolved and a new general election held.

A removal from office has not occurred since the founding of the republic.

List[edit]

There have been six presidents since the establishment of the republic.

Term: ¹ appointed · ² died in office · ³ uncontested

Nº	President		Took office	Left office	Duration	Term	Prime ministers
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 jointly in the prime minister (Steingrímur Steinþórsson), the president of the Parliament (Jón Pálmason) and the president of the Supreme Court (Jón Ásbjörnsson).
2		Ásgeir Ásgeirsson (1894–1972)	1 August 1952	31 July 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	31 July 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 (born 1930)	1 August 1980	31 July 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. Won first term in office with the lowest historical share of the votes for a first-term election (33.79%) but overwhelmingly won her third-term election in 1988.
5		Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson (born 1943)	1 August 1996	31 July 2016	20 years (7,305 days)	15(1996)	Davíð Oddsson Halldór Ásgrímsson Geir Haarde Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson
						16(2000)3
						17(2004)
						18(2008)3
						19(2012)
			First to use the constitutional veto power under Article 26 to deny signing a law from the Parliament. Used it again on two occasions.
6		Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson (born 1968)	1 August 2016	Incumbent (Term expires on 31 July 2024)	7 years, 339 days (2895 days)	20(2016)	Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson Bjarni Benediktsson Katrín Jakobsdóttir Bjarni Benediktsson
						21(2020)
			Overwhelmingly won his second-term election in 2020.
7		Halla Tómasdóttir (born 1968)	1 August 2024		0	22(2024)	Bjarni Benediktsson
			Won with the second lowest historical share of the votes for a first-term election (34.15%). This was her second attempt at a presidential run, the first one having been in 2016 where she came in second.

Timeline[edit]

See also[edit]

• List of rulers of Iceland
• List of spouses and partners of Icelandic presidents

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Official website