Talk:Politics of Iceland

message: A new government will take office tomorrow, on 24 May, 2007.  --Michkalas 14:03, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  New government 

message: In Iceland, the people have made the government resign, the primary banks have been nationalized, and it was decided to not pay the debt that these created with Great Britain and Holland due to their bad financial politics and a public assembly has been created to rewrite the constitution.
And all of this in a peaceful way.
It is a whole revolution against the powers that have created the current global crisis. This is why there hasn’t been any publicity during the last two years: What would happen if the rest of the EU citizens took this as an example? What would happen if the US citizens took this as an example.
This is a summary of the facts:
2008. The main bank of the country is nationalized.
The Krona, the currency of Iceland devaluates and the stock market stops.
The country is in bankruptcy
2008. The citizens protest in front of parliament and manage to get new elections that make the resignation of the prime minister and his whole government.
The country is in bad economic situation.
A law proposes paying back the debt to Great Britain and Holland through the payment of 3,500 million euros, which will be paid by the people of Iceland monthly during the next 15 years, with a 5.5% interest.
2010. The people go out in the streets and demand a referendum. In January 2010 the president denies the approval and announces a popular meeting.
In March the referendum and the denial of payment is voted in by 93%. Meanwhile the government has initiated an investigation to bring to justice those responsible for the crisis, and many high level executives and bankers are arrested. The Interpol dictates an order that make all the implicated parties leave the country.
In this crisis an assembly is elected to rewrite a new Constitution which can include the lessons learned from this, and which will substitute the current one (a copy of the Danish Constitution). 
25 citizens are chosen, with no political affiliation, out of the 522 candidates. For candidacy all that was needed was to be an adult and have the support of 30 people. The constitutional assembly starts in February of 2011 to present the ‘carta magna’ from the recommendations given by the different assemblies happening throughout the country. It must be approved by the current Parliament and by the one constituted through the next legislative elections.
So in summary of the Icelandic revolution:
-resignation of the whole government
-nationalization of the bank.
-referendum so that the people can decide over the economic decisions.
-incarcerating the responsible parties
-rewriting of the constitution by its people
Icelandove (talk) 17:16, 6 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Current Government 

message: The PM has offered to resign. That does not mean there is no PM. His resignation has not been accepted or taken effect. Even if it did, that does not create an "interregnum". The PM is not a king.Royalcourtier (talk) 01:19, 6 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Interregnum 

message: Noticed there's a lot of well-developed sections regarding previous elections, but not the most recent parliamentary and presidential elections. I'm putting up an "Update" template. 142.109.127.38 (talk) 16:27, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  2016 Developments 

message: "Elected to a four-year term, the president has limited powers and is poised in a largely ceremonial office that serves as a diplomat and figurehead."
While this is true by convention (actual practice), in theory (constitutional powers), the President of Iceland is entrusted with a large degree of executive power and can even form and dismiss cabinets with full discretion. Ministers cannot even resign from their posts without being dismissed by presidential decree. This situation is in parallel to that of the President of Austria, as both countries have president-parliamentary (semi-presidential) constitutions, except their actual role is only to exercise their wide powers on the advice of their heads of government. --B.Lameira (talk) 19:54, 15 September 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  President of Iceland has "limited" powers 

message: I think there should be something written about the search for a new constitution, which is one of the main political themes since the Financial Crisis 2008. 
Long story short. 
The collapse of Iceland’s economy in late 2008 incited a tremendous amount of anger. Many Icelanders felt that the system itself needed some fundamental changes, included a new constitution. Some things has happened on this issue since 2008, but in short Iceland still hasn't got a new constitution. Its still basically the same as the one created in 1874. Worth mentioning in this is the creation of the constitutional draft, which was also a grassroots effort, albeit with a more formalised process. That began with then-Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir submitting a bill to Parliament in 2009 for the creation of a Constitutional Assembly, which would be tasked with reviewing the constitution. This bill was made law, with the amendment that what changes should be made arise from a National Forum. In 2010, the Forum came together, tasked with assessing what the nation itself might want to change about the constitution. That Forum drew about 1,000 people to offer their ideas on what the new constitution should focus on. This and some other things that can be checked up could for example be in such a text, about Icelands recent political history. --Mats33 (talk) 23:58, 6 December 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  The search of a new constitution