Iceland is an island nation located in the North Atlantic Ocean, other nearby land masses and islands include Scandinavia, Greenland, the Faroe Islands and the United Kingdom, it is considered a part of Europe and thus is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. The country’s capital city is Reykjavik which is found on the islands western coast. The country is surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean which also includes the Greenland Sea and Norwegian Sea.
The Landnamabok, a medieval Icelandic manuscript, says that the settlement of Iceland begun in 874 AD with the arrival of the Norwegian chieftain Ingolfr Arnarson as the first permanent settler, over the centuries Norwegians and some other Scandinavians begun emigrating to Iceland, many bringing with them slaves, or as they were called, thralls, who were of Gaelic origin.
The Althing was established in 930 AD and is seen as the world’s oldest functioning legislative assemblies, and thus the Icelandic Commonwealth was created, which was an independent state. Civil strife in the country caused by Icelandic chieftains, known as the Sturlung Era, led to the nation pledging fealty to the Norwegian monarchy in 1262, this agreement was called Old Covenant. The Kalmar Union united the Kingdoms of Sweden, Norway and Denmark in 1397 and so Iceland became a possession of this Union.
Sweden’s succession from the Kalmar Union led to Iceland coming under Denmark-Norway from 1523, Denmark had large influence on Iceland and they violently forced Lutheranism on to the island in 1550. The French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars stoked ambitions for independence in Iceland and led to the breakup of Denmark-Norway with Iceland becoming a Danish Dependency, the movements for independence in Iceland led to the Danish crown giving Iceland a constitution and limited self-rule, but it would not be until 1918 where the Danish-Icelandic Act of Union recognized Iceland as independent and sovereign, this established the Kingdom of Iceland and made a personal union with Denmark, with the Danish King also King of Iceland.
A two-part referendum in Iceland in 1944 would abolish this union with Denmark and lead to the implementation of a Republic in Iceland, the Nazi occupation of Denmark during World War II was a strong reason for this occurring. Industrialization of fisheries and the aid from the Marshall Plan after World War II allowed Iceland to thrive, and has since become of the wealthiest and developed nations in the world, although the 2008 financial crisis significantly affected the country’s economy, it also made a dramatic comeback by 2014. The country is part of NATO and the European Economic Area, but is not a part of the European Union.
The largest religion is Christianity under the Church of Iceland, and the country’s official language is Icelandic. The country’s currency is the Icelandic Krona and the country’s population is over 341,000.
Government Type
Iceland is a parliamentary representative democratic republic and has a President who is Head of State and a Prime Minister who is Head of Government. The Althingi is the unicameral chamber of parliament and makes up legislative government. Multiple parties are allowed.
Iceland is seen as one of the most fair and free democratic countries in the world.
The Executive Government
The President is the Head of State, representing the country abroad and exercising the legislative power jointly with the Althingi (Iceland’s unicameral parliament).
Presidential Temporary and Permanent Absence
If the President dies in office or reigns then an election will elect another President via an early election and they will have a full term ending on the 31st July on the fourth year.
If the President is temporarily unable to perform duties for example due to illness or if the Presidency is vacant due to waiting for the election of a new President, then the Prime Minister, President of the Althingi, and the President of the Supreme Court will exercise collective authority over the Presidency, the President of the Althingi will preside over their meetings, decisions are made by majority if there is a difference in opinion.
Presidential Duties
The President’s duties involve management of the executive government and also appointment, transfer and removal of public officials as provided by law. Those who are appointed to public office must hold Icelandic nationality.
The President concludes treaties and international agreements. Treaties that relate to renouncement or servitude of territory or territorial waters or that requires changes to the State system must be approved by the Althingi.
The President must convene the Althingi within 10 weeks after a parliamentary election and also open its regular sessions each year. The President can choose to adjourn the Althingi for a limited time no longer than two weeks and cannot perform this action more than once per year. The Althingi can authorize the President to not adjourn it. When the Althingi is adjourned it must be brought back into session by the President if authorized to do so by a majority of its members.
The President can dissolve the Althingi as provided by law such as for regular elections or due to early elections, such as may be related to a loss of confidence, failure of plebiscite to remove President or endless deadlock, fresh elections must take place within 45-days.
The President can submit bills and draft resolutions to the Althingi. The President signs bills into law that are passed by the Althingi, the President can choose to reject a bill, in this case the bill will still get force of law but when possible, a referendum will be held as to whether to reject or accept the bill, if rejected then the bill becomes void, if not then it remains law.
Under cases of urgency the President has decree power to issue provisional laws whenever the Althingi is not in session. These laws must abide by the Constitution and will always be submitted to the Althingi once it convenes. If the law is not approved by the Althingi or no action is taken on it within six weeks of convening then the law becomes void. The President can also issue a provisional Budget if the Althingi has not for the current fiscal year.
If there are strong reasons then the President can pardon or give amnesty to individuals. The President cannot absolve a Minister from prosecution or punishment that has been imposed by the Court of Impeachment, unless the Althingi gives its approval.
The President appoints the Judges of the country’s Supreme Court as well as other higher courts, they are proposed to the President by the Ministry of Interior selection committee.
Presidential Removal
A referendum can be held to remove the President from office for violation of constitution, high treason etc. The referendum or plebiscite must first be adopted by the Althingi via at least three-fourths of the members of that chamber. Once the resolution is adopted the President cannot perform duties until the result of the plebiscite. The plebiscite is held within two months, if it fails to remove the President then the Althingi will be dissolved and fresh parliamentary elections held, if it is succesful then the President is removed from office and elections held to replace them.
The Government and Prime Minister
The Prime Minister is Head of Government, they are appointed by the President after parliamentary elections based on who they believe holds the confidence of the Althingi. It is important for the Prime Minister and their government to hold the confidence of the Althingi to remain in power, the Prime Minister and Ministers are collectively responsible and so loss of confidence vote means the entire government must resign.
The President appoints and removes Ministers of the Government at the advice of the Prime Minister, these Ministers are delegated to areas of Government, they lead them and make executive decisions within them that come within their competence. Ministers are responsible for their executive actions as well as their lawful conduct within office. The Althingi can impeach Ministers and the Court of Impeachment will have competence on these cases, such may lead to impeached Minister/s removal.
There is a State Council which is made up of the President, Prime Minister and other Ministers, the President presides over it. It is the main point of contact between the President and the Cabinet of Iceland. Through this the President must be kept informed on important states matters and of legislation. Meetings of the State Council can also be used by the Government to compel the President to do something – such as dissolve or adjourn the Althingi.
The Cabinet of Iceland are the Prime Minister and Ministers and the highest executive decision-making body of the Government. Ministerial meetings are held to discuss new legislative proposals and other important State matters, they can also be called if a Minister wishes to raise a matter there, the President directs the Prime Minister to preside over these meetings.
Acts of Government and other measures are signed by the President and countersigned by the competent Minister to have effect.
The Legislative Government
The Althingi is the unicameral parliament of Iceland, it currently has a set 63 members elected every 4-years. Its purpose is to scrutinize introduced legislation and resolutions, debate them and possibly amend them and then either pass or reject them, where then the bill if passed will go to the President of the Republic to be signed into law. It is also the job of the Althingi to scrutinize government decisions and executive positions, they can choose to withdraw confidence via a resolution which if successful will lead to the Prime Minister and Government resigning, in-turn the Government themselves can put something like an important Government bill to a question of confidence.
The Althingi can also bring forth a resolution to remove the President for violation of office via a plebiscite and they can impeach Ministers in violation of their office and oath which will be decided upon by the Court of Impeachment.
With permission of the Althingi its members may request information from Ministers or an answer with regard to public matters.
The Althingi also approves the annual state budget for the fiscal year.
Legislative bills and resolutions can be introduced by the Government via a Minister or by members of the Althingi. All bills require three readings before they are fully passed.
Ministers who are not also members of the Althingi have the right to attend sessions and participate in debates, but they cannot vote if they are not members.
The Althingi can appoint committees of investigation into matters deemed important to the public interest. The Althingi can grant these committees powers to request oral or written reports from officials and other individuals.
Members of the Althingi elect a President of the Althingi after parliamentary elections have taken place. The President of the Althingi presides over its sessions and enforces the rules of procedure and represents the Althingi in an impartial manner.
The Electoral System
Presidential elections happen every 4-years and the President is elected by direct popular vote and only needs a simple majority. If there was only one candidate nominated for President then they win by default without needing to hold a vote.
To be a candidate for President one must be at least 35-years-old and be registered to vote in elections. Candidates require at least 1,500 voters (no more than 3,000 voters) to nominate them for the presidential election. The President cannot also be a member of the Althingi and cannot receive paid employment while President in either a public or private role.
Parliamentary elections to elect the members of the Althingi are held every 4-years. Members are elected from multi-seat electoral districts using a proportional representation system where parties reaching at least a 5% threshold of the vote nationwide will be guaranteed a proportional share of seats as best as possible.
After parliamentary elections the Prime Minister is nominated by the majority party or coalition and then appointed by the President of the Republic.
Laws relating to amendment of electoral district boundaries and methods of allocation of seats require a two-thirds majority to pass. There is National Election Board that determines fair seat numbers among electoral districts.
To vote in elections one must be an Icelandic national who is at least 18-years-old and who is permanently domiciled in Iceland on the date of the election, unless exceptions have been made on this last part by law. Those who are eligible to vote are also eligible to run as a candidate for the Althingi, just as long as they are not disqualified for reasons such as holding certain positions/offices, such as a Supreme Court Judge, or if they do not have a so-called “unblemished reputation”.
Sources
Source for this comes from Iceland’s constitution of 1944 with amendments through to 2013 (constituteproject.org) and so should be as up to date as possible but of course I may have missed some things, misinterpreted others things and the constitution can again be amended and so this post may eventually become outdated, so when using this in a serious capacity cross research is recommended.
Additional information from the CIA World Factbook’s Iceland profile.
Changes to the country’s constitution are proposed by the Althingi, this must be approved via a special majority, then a newly elected Althingi must pass the amendment again via a special majority as well and then finally it must be confirmed by the President. Changes that involve Article 62, to do with the Evangelical Lutheran Church being the state church of Iceland, also requires a public referendum to be amended.
Next up will be a big one, it is indeed the biggest democracy in the world – it’s the government system of India! So stay tuned for that.
Check out another post like this – Denmark’s Government System.
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