“We plan to keep this unchanged for now”
Gestur Jónsson is the chairman of the Northeastern Electoral Commission. A decision will be made tomorrow whether the election meeting will need to be postponed due to the weather. Composite image
Although the weather forecast is not too favorable for elections across the country tomorrow, the election is still planned to take place in the same format tomorrow. If an election is to be postponed in any constituency, a decision on this will not be made until tomorrow, but this would cause the count to be postponed until after the entire country has voted.
However, the count might have to be postponed partially in some constituencies, but this would not affect the count, for example, in the capital area. In that case, however, the final results would not be available until Sunday at the earliest.
People are used to all kinds of weather and conditions
The worst weather forecast is currently for the Northeast Constituency, but the weather could also play a role in the eastern part of the South Constituency and the Northwest Constituency.
Gestur Jónsson, chairman of the Northeastern Electoral Commission, said in an interview with mbl.is that those living in the Northeastern Electoral Commission are generally used to all kinds of weather and traffic. He says that he does not believe that the election needs to be postponed. He says that people are primarily concerned about wind and snowstorms that could delay the votes being brought over mountain roads for counting. Local weather will be the most important factor here.
Do not put lives at risk
He says that the Icelandic Road Administration and rescue teams are in the starting blocks, but that this is mainly related to ensuring that voters get to the polling station. "We will not put anyone at risk to get votes to the counting station," he adds, pointing out that if the weather gets too bad the counting will be postponed further.
He says that various measures have been taken to ensure that votes are counted in places where difficult conditions can be expected. Thus, an attempt will be made to conclude the election meeting as soon as possible in Borgarfjörður East and the votes will be driven by snowplow into Egilsstaðir. The same applies to Seyðisfjörður, where it is planned that the votes will be driven across the Fjarðarheiði by snowplow.
279 / 5.000 Bad weather is expected to affect many parts of the country tomorrow, but the main concerns are strong winds and landslides on mountain roads. Election boards and chief election boards are prepared, but the emphasis is on completing the election campaign. However, the counting of votes may be delayed in certain places. Photo/Landsbjörg
Good flight equipment helps
From Mjóafjörður, votes will be sailed over to Norðfjörður, and from all election committees from Djúpivogur north to Borgarfjörður East, data will be collected in Egilsstaðir before being flown to Akureyri. Jónsson says that the instrument flight equipment in both Akureyri and Egilsstaðir is good enough that the weather should not have an effect there.
Votes from Vopnafjörður will be driven along the coast to Akureyri, but Jónsson says that one of the weakest links may be getting votes from there, from Melrakkaslétta and Öxarfjörður. “It could be quite difficult.”
No decision made until tomorrow
He says that no decision will be made to postpone the election if conditions are very bad until tomorrow at the earliest. “We plan to keep this unchanged for now,” Jónsson says adding that all emphasis is on completing the election. If the weather is such that the election has to be postponed, he says that it will probably be postponed until Sunday, but if that happens, the count will have to be postponed throughout the country.
“It is a big decision to postpone the election,” Jónsson reiterates, adding that he is much less worried even if the count in the Northeast constituency has to be postponed partially.
Ready to delay in other constituencies
In other parts of the country, the chairmen of the electoral boards are calm and waiting for news from the Northeast and even the South. For example, Heimir Örn Herbertsson, chairman of the electoral board in the Reykjavík North constituency, says that the counting staff in Reykjavík will not be locked in until around 6 pm at the earliest. He says that if the situation is uncertain, they will delay until a decision has been made on whether the election can be completed.
The situation is similar in the Southwest constituency, but Gestur Svavarsson, chairman of the electoral board there, says that the plan is for the counting staff to be locked in at 7 pm if everything goes as planned with the election in the country.
The vote count in both Reykjavík constituencies will take place in Laugardalshöll. If all goes well, the counting staff will be locked in there at 6:00 PM tomorrow, but the Election Commission is ready if there is a need to delay it until it is clear that the election is complete nationwide. mbl.is/Eggert Jóhannesson
A decision must be made by 6 pm
They all note that it is necessary for a decision on whether to postpone the election meeting to be made no later than tomorrow afternoon and at the latest when it is approaching 6 pm.
It is therefore possible that it will not be clear until close to 6 pm tomorrow whether the counting will begin tomorrow and thus whether the first numbers will come tomorrow evening, and whether there is reason to hold election vigils to monitor the numbers coming into the house in the evening and into the night. However, it seems clear that everything should be done to be able to complete the election, although it may be necessary to wait a while with the counting of some votes from some constituencies if it is not possible to transport the data to the counting site.
