2004 Election - President
The President is elected by plurality vote to serve a 4-year term. Iceland, with a population of 300 thousand, is a constitutional republic and a parliamentary democracy; executive authority is vested in the prime minister, the president is head of state, and the unicameral Althingi parliament constitutes the legislative branch. In June 2004 Olafur Ragnar Grimsson was reelected as president in free and fair elections. In September 2004 Foreign Minister Halldor Asgrimsson (Progressive) replaced Prime Minister David Oddsson (Independence) based on a coalition agreement.
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson was first elected president in 1996 when he came in first in a field of four with about 42% of the vote. He ran unopposed in 200 but in 2004 he got only 42.5% of the nation even though his two opponents were relatively unknown. Many chose abstain by staying home or submitting a blank vote.
In June 2004 Olafur Ragnar Grimsson won 85.6 percent of the valid votes for his third term. While the office of the president is mostly ceremonial, there are no limits on how many times an incumbent may run for office. Elections to the parliament in 2003 were free and fair. Center-right coalitions have governed since 1991.
As part of the left-wing People's Alliance, Ólafur was a Member of Althing for Reykjavík from 1978 to 1983; during this time he was Chairman of the People's Alliance parliamentary group from 1980 to 1983. Subsequently, he was Chairman of the People's Alliance executive committee from 1983 to 1987; additionally, from 1983 to 1985 he was editor of a newspaper, Þjóðviljinn. From 1987 to 1995, he was Leader of the People's Alliance; during this time, he served as Minister of Finance from 1988 to 1991 and as a Member of Althing for Reykjanes from 1991 to 1996.
He was the first president to use the authorisation given in the 26th article of the Icelandic constitution to put a law from Alþingi into a referendum. First he did this in 2004 when he was against the media law of Davíd Oddsson. Later he used it twice against the Icesave treaty with the Dutch and UK. The first time 99% of voters agreed with him, the second time it was 60% of the voters. He did however sign one such law which was clearly a worse deal than the one he later opposed.
During his presidency, he has emphasized sustainable management of natural resources to control climate change, advocating the use of geothermal energy as a renewable, economically viable and reliable resource. He had been a spokesman of increased, peaceful, international cooperation both in the Arctic and the Himalayas. President Grímsson, together with others, initiated the Arctic Circle, which held its annual assemblies in Iceland in 2013 and 2014 with over 1,500 participants from more than 40 countries each year.
Ólafur Ragnar was a very controversial politician, a former Chairman of the People’s Alliance, formerly the Socialist Party. He was a fierce opponent of Davíd Oddsson, saying repeatedly in Althingi that Davíd, then Prime Minister, had a ****ty personality. The two have been united in recent times by their opposition to Icesave and the European Union.
Grimsson's popularity declined sharply in the polls in the wake of the serious economic crisis that struck the country in 2008.
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