Icelandic President Jóhannesson has secured a new term of office. The incumbent president received more than 92 percent of the vote in yesterday’s elections. His opponent, Jónsson, received 7.8 percent of the vote, according to the Icelandic Electoral Commission.
170,000 of the 252,000 Icelandic voters cast their votes. Jóhannesson, 52, is popular with the Icelanders. He was first elected in 2016 and has already been tipped as the big favorite. According to the Icelandic public channel RÚV, there is much appreciation for the way in which Jóhannesson fulfills his presidency. He is seen as a connector and someone above the parties.
His opponent Jónsson previously worked on the Wall Street stock exchange and was a hotel manager. He spoke positively about US President Trump in previous interviews.
Limited power
A president has little power in Iceland, but must sign and refuse to sign all laws. When the law is denied, Icelanders can vote in a referendum. That rarely happens.
Jóhanesson’s predecessor, President Grímsson, did it twice. Among other things, he loved a law against it with which Iceland had to repay 1.3 billion euros to the Netherlands and 2.5 billion euros to Great Britain because of the drama surrounding the bankrupt savings bank Icesave. The Icelandic voter subsequently rejected the law in a referendum.
Jóhannesson, incidentally, was striking in the international media in 2017: he proposed a ban on pineapple on pizza. He responded to questions from students in Akureyri. He later admitted that he had gone “too far” with that after fans of the Hawaii pizza took it for the pizza.
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