Not running for the third term
Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, the President of Iceland announced in his New Year's address that he would not be running for the third term as president. Photo/The Office of the President of Iceland
President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson will not run again for the presidency. He revealed this in his New Year’s address.
Jóhannesson has been president since 2016. He said in his candidacy for the 2016 elections that he will serve as president for a maximum of three terms.
He said he had carefully considered seeking re-election for another term.
“On the other hand, I always came to the conclusion that it’s better to let your heart decide than follow other arguments that must be considered weaker when it comes to everything.”
He said that in a strong democracy one replaces another and no one should feel like they’re indispensable.
“Dear country, dear friends, for all these reasons I do not plan to be running for the presidencial election that will take place this summer.”
The term of office of the President will expire on 31 July this summer, before which the country will have elected a new president.
Will have spent the least amount of time in office
With his decision, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson becomes the president who served for the least amount of time. Sveinn Björnsson, the first president of the republic, served for seven and a half years, that is, from 17 June 1944 until his death in February 1952. He was previously governor of the state for three years, that is, from 1941-1944, and then took over the duties of the Danish king in Iceland. Ásgeir Ásgeirsson and Vigdís Finnbogadóttir served each for sixteen years, Kristján Eldjárn was president for twelve years and Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson for 20 years.
Ríkisstjórnarfundur 29. desember 2023. Katrín Jakobsdóttir. mbl.is/Kristinn Magnússon
Jakobsdóttir says she will not consider running
Many people seem to regret Jóhannesson as President, as was the case with yesterday’s debate on social media. Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir spoke to mbl.is yesterday about this. She said she was not considering running. Birgir Ármannsson, the President of the Icelandic parliament, said that he would have liked Jóhannesson to stay in office, but his personal decision should be respected.
Changes in more places
Several other changes to the composition of the country's top offices are now underway. Einar Thorsteinsson will take over as mayor of Reykjavík on January 16. Bishop elections will take place in March. Today's Morgunblaðið interviews two priests in the national church who say they're ready to run if they get the number of appointments they need. Two women in the priesthood had previously run and want to be elected.
