Voting for the seventh president of Iceland

The election for the seventh president of the Republic is today. There are 13 candidates running for office. The one who wins the most votes in the election will take over the president's office on 1 August.

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Jakobsdóttir and Tómasdóttir are tied

There are 266,935 people aged 18 and older registered on the electoral roll, according to the website of the National Registry of Iceland. There are considerably more women registered than men, 133,868 versus 132,921. Those registered as gender-queer or with a neutral gender registration are 146.

The most populous constituency is the Southwest constituency, which has 77,967 registered voters. By contrast, the Northwest constituency has the lowest population, or 22,175. There are more than a hundred polling stations in 64 municipalities nationwide. Polling stations are generally open from 9 am today to 22 pm tonight.

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Very close race for the top three

The votes will be counted in five places: Laugardalshöll, Kaplakriki, Fjölbrautaskóli Suðurlands, Hjálmaklettur in Borgarnes, and the University of Akureyri.

The first numbers can be expected between 22.15 and 22.30 from the South-east district and shortly thereafter from the North-east district. Final numbers will probably not appear until around 7 am tomorrow. All of this is subject to various uncertainties and timing can change.

The average participation in presidential elections in Iceland has been 68.7% in this century, the lowest in 2004, 62.9%. The highest was in 2016, or 75.7% when Guðni Th. Jóhannesson was elected president. In the last century, from the presidential elections in 1952 to 1996, the average participation was 84.68%. The highest was in 1968 when 92.2% of the nation voted, at which time Kristján Eldjárn was elected president. The lowest participation was in 1988 when Vigdís Finnbogadóttir received the most votes and began her third term as president.