Iceland - Election 2020 - President
Icelanders cast their ballots in a presidential election on 27 June 2020, with incumbent Gudni Johannesson widely expected to win a second four-year term. Iceland was only the second nation in Europe to hold polls since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, after Serbia held elections a few days earlier. The country, which is home to about 365,000 people, had not been severely affected by the health crisis. It has so far reported 10 deaths, and currently had around 10 active cases.
But the pandemic hit the tourism-dependent economy hard, prompting the central bank to cut its main rate twice and the government to spend around $2 billion (€1.78 billion) in financial aid to stricken businesses and individuals left jobless. To reduce the risk of infection, voters have been asked to stay two meters apart at polling stations and are being provided with hand sanitizers and gloves.
Iceland is a parliamentary republic, with a president serving as the head of state, directly elected for a four-year term without term limits. The president mainly plays a ceremonial role and enjoys moral authority, but formally holds both legislative and executive powers. According to the Constitution, the president appoints the prime minister and other government ministers, dissolves the parliament and can veto laws adopted by parliament, in which case the law is put for popular vote. In practice, however, the president’s decisions are typically based on the recommendations of the government. Executive power is exercised by the government led by the prime minister.
The Presidential election scheduled for 27 June 2020 was primarily regulated by the Constitution and the law on presidential and parliamentary elections. Recent legal amendments touch upon candidate registration and campaign finance issues; however, these amendments were mostly of a technical nature.
Electoral campaign can be financed by private donations only. No public financing is available for presidential candidates. Campaign finance legislation sets limits for donations and expenditures and obliges candidates to submit reports on their finances. The National Audit Office, which is responsible for monitoring campaign finance, provides guidance to candidates, but does not have the authority to directly audit the candidates’ reports and impose sanctions in case of violations.
The media environment is pluralistic and television is the main source of political information, followed by online and social media. The public broadcaster planned to broadcast interviews and debates between candidates with the aim to present their views to the voters. TV is the main source of political information, followed by online and social media and daily newspapers. The two television channels of the public broadcaster RÚV and the privatelyowned Channel 2 enjoy the most viewers. Two newspapers, Morgunbladid and Fréttabladid, retain a strong position in influencing political opinion despite falling circulation.
Johannesson, a 52-year-old independent and former history professor, was elected to a first four-year term in 2016. Opinion polls suggested his right-wing challenger, former Wall Street broker Gudmundur Franklin Jonsson, had almost no chance of winning. Survey show voter support for the incumbent Johannesson at over 90%. "He has been seen as a man of the people, not pompous, not very formal. So Icelanders seem to like him and want to keep him as president," Olafur Hardarson, a political science professor at the University of Iceland, told AFP.
Jonsson, on the other hand, had struggled to make inroads with voters. The 56-year-old, who had run a hotel in Denmark since 2013 and was a fan of US President Donald Trump, first entered politics in 2010 when he founded the right-wing populist movement Haegri graenir, which he led for three years.
As in recent elections, the role of the president was the main theme of the campaign. In Iceland's parliamentary republic, the president's position is largely symbolic, but he or she does have the power to appoint ministers and veto legislation. Most powers lie with the government, currently headed by Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir. Challenger Jonsson wants the president to play a more active role in politics, by exercising his right to veto legislation. That power had only been used three times, each time by Olafur Grimsson during his five mandates from 1996 to 2016.
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