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Iceland - Government

Iceland is a constitutional republic with a multi-party system. The head of state is the President. Executive power is exercised by the Government. Iceland is arguably the world's oldest parliamentary democracy, with the Parliament, the Althingi, established in 930. Legislative power is vested in both the Parliament and the President. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislature.

Every fourth year the electorate chooses, by secret ballot, 63 representatives to sit in Althingi. The Alþingi (pronounced ‘Althingi’), a democratic institution which can trace its history right back to 930 AD and the first Norse settlers. Anyone who is eligible to vote, with the exception of the President and judges of the Supreme Court, can stand for parliament. Election procedures in Iceland are similar to those in most Western European countries. The Althingi (parliament) has a total of 63 seats which are allocated proportionally across six voting districts. Voters cast their ballots for parties, not for individual candidates, though the parties publish their candidate lists in rank order ahead of the election. To receive an Althingi seat, a party needs to receive at least five percent of the vote nationwide, in addition to competing successfully within a given district.

The traditionally apolitical president, who is elected separately in national elections in the year following Althingi elections, is empowered to formally appoint the cabinet. In practice, the leaders of the political parties forming the successful coalition decide the makeup and allocation of cabinet seats among themselves. Following each election, the President gives a leader of a political party the authority to form a cabinet, usually beginning with the leader of the largest party. If unsuccessful; the President will ask another political party leader to form a government.

Minority governments are not constitutionally permitted. Traditionally, only when the party leaders are unable to reach a conclusion by themselves in reasonable time does the president exercise his power to appoint the cabinet himself. Since 1991, two-party coalitions had held power with the Independence Party as the senior partner, but three-party coalitions were not uncommon in the past.

The prime minister and cabinet exercise most executive functions. A cabinet of ministers stays in power until the next general election or a new government is formed. The ministers sit in Althingi, but only those elected have the right to vote in parliament.

The office of President was established in the Constitution of the Republic of Iceland which took effect on 17 June 1944. When Iceland became a republic in 1944, the post of president was created to fill the void left by the Danish king. Although the president is popularly elected and has limited veto powers, the expectation is that the president should play the same limited role as a monarch in a traditional parliamentary system. The president is elected by direct popular vote for a term of four years, with no term limit. The President of Iceland is the country's head of state and the only representative chosen by the entire electorate in a direct election.

Under the Constitution, the President delegates executive power to governmental authorities. The President and the Parliament exercise legislative power. When bills have been passed they are submitted to the President within two weeks to become effective as law. If the President refuses to approve the bill, it nevertheless takes effect, but must then be subjected to a general referendum as soon as possible and becomes invalid if it is rejected; otherwise, it remains in force. In the absence of the President, presidential powers are exercised by the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Alþingi and the President of the Supreme Court. The official residence of the President of Iceland is at Bessastaðir, near Reykjavík.

The president can force a public referendum on a proposed law by refusing to sign it. President Olafur Ragnar Grimsson has referred legislation to referendum three times (one time the legislation was withdrawn before the referendum could be held).

The modern judiciary consists of the Supreme Court, district courts, and various special courts. The constitution protects the judiciary from infringement by the other two branches.

The Althing, which had formed in 930, met every June on the Thingvellir, a plain in southwestern Iceland. (Thing means assembly.) During the two-week-long proceedings, the council of chieftains would make new laws that would be announced by the Law Speaker, nominally the most important person in Iceland. In each of the three years of his term, the Law Speaker would also repeat from memory one third of the entire body of law. (The Icelanders only began putting their law -- known as Grágás, or gray goose -- into writing in the twelfth century.)