Tight race as Iceland elects new president

Jakobsdottir served as the head of a left-right government from 2017 until April when she stepped down to run for president – Copyright AFP Halldor KOLBEINS

Iceland goes to the polls Saturday in a presidential election that looks set to be a close race between three women, including former prime minister Katrin Jakobsdottir.

Iceland’s president holds a largely ceremonial position in the parliamentary republic, acting as a guarantor of the constitution and national unity.

He or she does however have the power to veto legislation or submit it to a referendum.

The hugely popular Gudni Johannesson, who has held the job since 2016 and was re-elected in 2020 with a whopping 92 percent of the vote, announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election.

No one central issue has dominated the election campaign, where candidates traditionally run as independents without party affiliations.

In addition to the former prime minister, the main candidates in the field of 13 include a political science professor, a comedian, a businesswoman and an Arctic and energy scholar.

In the country of 380,000 people, any citizen gathering 1,500 signatures can run for office.

Jakobsdottir, who served as the head of a left-right coalition government from 2017 until April when she stepped down to run for president, has had to fend off criticism that she is too political for the job.

“I actually think that knowing the political environment doesn’t make you less qualified to handle the job of president,” the 48-year-old said Thursday during a televised debate, when asked if her political career would be a hindrance for her as president.

“On the contrary… I believe that I can rise above all party politics,” she said.

The televised debate saw the candidates trade barbs on topics ranging from the country’s NATO membership, weapons for Ukraine, the possible sale of Iceland’s national power company and the use of presidential veto powers.

– Women in the lead –

Jakobsdottir and two other women — Halla Tomasdottir and Halla Hrund Logadottir — have been leading in opinion polls.

Tomasdottir is a 55-year-old businesswoman who came second in the 2016 presidential election, while Logadottir is a 43-year-old environmental, Arctic and energy expert and currently adjunct professor at Harvard University,

A poll published in daily Morgunbladid on Friday put Jakobsdottir in the lead with 26 percent, trailed closely by Tomasdottir with 24 percent and Logadottir with 19 percent.

Jakobsdottir, party leader for the Left Green Movement from 2013 until her presidential bid, has been hailed for her handling of the resurgence in volcanic eruptions on the Reykjanes peninsula since December.

The five eruptions, including one on Wednesday, have sparked a series of evacuations as well as the state’s acquisition of homes from residents evacuated from the threatened fishing town of Grindavik.

But political observers noted that Jakobsdottir’s background as prime minister could work against her, and said the race remained wide open.

A woman president would not be a first in Iceland.

In 1980, Vigdis Finnbogadottir became the world’s first woman democratically elected as head of state.

The election results are expected early Sunday.