Absolute majority to decide who becomes President
Bessastaðir, the official residence of the Icelandic President. Photo: Brynjar Gauti
Iceland is the only republic in the world with an elected president which does not require the winning candidate to secure over 50% of overall votes, and this must be changed.
This is the thrust of a new parliamentary bill moved by Iceland’s Bright Future party (‘Björt framtíð’) proposing changes to how the President of Iceland is elected.
Currently, a presidential candidate is deemed to have won the election if they secure a simple majority, i.e. if they get more votes than any of the other candidates.
This should be changed, says Bright Future.
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir (President 1980-96) won in 1980 with just 33.8% of the vote. She was less than two points ahead of the second-placed candidate. Photo: Kristinn Ingvarsson
The set-up is such that “the elected President may not be supported by a majority of voters or receive a majority of valid votes. If there are many candidates, or if votes are spread fairly evenly amongst them, the President may have only a small support base.”
The proposal (full text here , in Icelandic) calls for a move to an overall-majority system as in all other presidential republics.
“[...] [I]f no candidate for the office of President of Iceland secures an overall majority of valid votes in the election, a second ballot shall be held between the two highest-scoring candidates,” reads the bill. “The candidate securing the most votes in this second ballot shall be the elected President.”
Bright Future trusts that such a change to the Icelandic constitution will yield clearer and more decisive results in presidential elections, better reflecting the will of the electorate.
Current President, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, won the last elections (2012) with almost 53% of votes, and would not have needed to go through a second ballot. Photo: Golli / Kjartan Þorbjörnsson
