Iceland’s first presidential candidate for 2016?
Þorgrímur Þráinsson. Photo: Heiðar Kristjánsson
The first likely candidate for the next president of Iceland has come out of the woodwork – 56-year-old footballer-turned-author Þorgrímur Þráinsson.
Þráinsson is famous in Iceland as writer of books for children and teenagers and acknowledged yesterday that he has been seriously considering running for Iceland’s top office.
“I will most likely stand as a candidate, though I wasn’t planning to go public until the New Year,” says Þráinsson. Iceland’s possible new president was ‘outed’ by an unknown source pretending to be Þráinsson himself posting a Facebook status reading “Þorgrímur Þráinsson’s Presidential Candidacy 2016”.
Presidential elections are held every four years in Iceland and the next vote is scheduled for next year, when the current incumbent Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson completes his fifth consecutive term in office.
“I am following my intuition and I want to stand, whether I win or not,” says Þráinsson. “Time will tell. I am more interested in the opportunities that the post affords, rather than just being president.”
“I have been a spokesperson for health, humanity and justice over the years and would like to continue talking about these issues. That is my motivation.”
Meanwhile, the will-he-won’t-he situation regarding the current President continues. Grímsson has said that he will announce his decision on whether or not he will go for a sixth term in his traditional New Year’s speech to the nation on January 1.
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