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NextGen Day Europe - Iceland Destination
Government of Iceland
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Stjórnarráðið, the seat of the executive branch of Iceland's government.
Iceland is a representative democracy and a parliamentary republic. The modern parliament, called "Alþingi", was founded in 1845 as an advisory body to the Danish monarch. It was widely seen as a re-establishment of the assembly founded in 930 in the Commonwealth period and suspended in 1799. Consequently, "it is arguably the world's oldest parliamentary democracy." It currently has 63 members, elected for a four year term.
The president of Iceland is a largely ceremonial head of state and serves as a diplomat but can block a law voted by the parliament and put it to a national referendum. The current president is Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. The head of government is the prime minister, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, who, together with the cabinet, is responsible for executive government. The cabinet is appointed by the president after a general election to Althing; however, the appointment is usually negotiated by the leaders of the political parties, who decide among themselves after discussions which parties can form the cabinet and how its seats are to be distributed, under the condition that it has a majority support in Althing. Only when the party leaders are unable to reach a conclusion by themselves in a reasonable time does the president exercise this power and appoint the cabinet himself or herself. This has not happened since the republic was founded in 1944, but in 1942 the regent of the country did appoint a non-parliamentary government. The regent had, for all practical purposes, the position of a president, and Sveinn in fact became the country's first president in 1944.
The governments of Iceland have almost always been coalitions with two or more parties involved, as no single political party has received a majority of seats in Althing during the republic. The extent of the political power possessed by the office of the president is disputed by legal scholars in Iceland; several provisions of the constitution appear to give the president some important powers but other provisions and traditions suggest differently. In 1980, Icelanders elected Vigdís Finnbogadóttir as president, the world's first directly elected female head of state. She retired from office in 1996.
Elections for town councils, parliament and presidency are each held every four years. The next elections are scheduled for 2010, 2011 and 2012 respectively. However, due to the current economic crisis, the next elections are set to be on the Saturday 25th of April.
Source: Wikipedia Encyclopedia
Iceland Hotels
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