2004 Icelandic presidential election
A presidential election was held in Iceland on Saturday, 26 June 2004.
Traditionally, Icelandic presidential elections in which the incumbent president indicates a wish to obtain a new mandate are uncontested.
The current president, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, was first elected in 1996 with 41.4% of the vote, in an election with an 85.9% turnout contested by four candidates.
In 2000 he was re-elected without opposition.
When Ólafur Ragnar announced his intention to seek another mandate in 2004, two other candidates emerged:
Unlike parliamentary elections in Iceland, presidential elections are not fought on the basis of party politics; instead, candidates attempt to use their personalities to attract supporters and appear as a living symbol of national unity.
By tradition, the presidency is an almost entirely powerless office, as the presidents almost never use the powers granted to them by the constitution, instead just exercising" moral authority".
Ólafur Ragnar, however, has expressed a wish to have a public discussion on the role of the head of state.
Unprecedentedly in the history of the Icelandic Republic, on 2 June 2004 Ólafur Ragnar vetoed a media ownership law passed by the Althing.
Davíð Oddsson, who was Prime Minister at the time, claimed that the veto was tainted because the president's daughter worked for Baugur Group, which had recently acquired roughly half of the country's media.
There was little doubt that Ólafur Ragnar would be re-elected, but the veto controversy had an effect on the voting – the unprecedentedly high number of empty ballots( 20.6% of the total) was thought to be largely a protest of the veto.
1996 Icelandic presidential election
Presidential elections were held in Iceland on 29 June 1996.
The result was a victory for Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, who received 41.4% of the vote.
Michael Hawkes
Michael Tranzo Hawkes( born April 11, 1977) is a former American football linebacker in the National Football League for the Carolina Panthers.
He also was a member of the Scottish Claymores in the World League of American Football.
He played college football at Virginia Tech.
2000 Icelandic presidential election
Presidential elections were scheduled to be held in Iceland in 2000.
However, incumbent President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson was the only candidate, and the election was uncontested.
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson( born 14 May 1943) is an Icelandic politician who was President of Iceland from 1996 to 2016.
He was first elected in 1996, and was elected unopposed for a second term in 2000.
Ólafur was re-elected for a third term in 2004( with opposition), for a fourth term in 2008( unopposed), and for a record fifth and final term in 2012( with opposition).
Ólafur announced in his New Year's message on 1 January 2016, that he would be stepping down from the presidency at the end of his fifth term on 1 August 2016, after twenty years in office.
However, he announced in a press conference on 18 April 2016 that he would be running for re-election, in light of the political instability caused by the release of the Panama Papers two weeks earlier.
After Guðni Th. Jóhannesson and Davíð Oddsson announced their candidacies, he again changed his mind and on 9 May declared he would not run.
Since the end of his presidency, Ólafur has been serving as Chairman of the Arctic Circle, a non-profit organization, and as Chairman of the International Renewable Energy Agency's Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation.
Dorrit Moussaieff
Dorrit Moussaieff( born 12 January 1950) is an Israeli jewellery designer, editor, and businesswoman who was the First Lady of Iceland from 2003 to 2016.
She became engaged to President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson in 2000 and they were married on Grímsson's 60th birthday in 2003.
Born in Israel, she was raised in the United Kingdom from the age of 13.
Guðrún Katrín Þorbergsdóttir
Guðrún Katrín Þorbergsdóttir( 14 August 1934 – 12 October 1998) was the First Lady of Iceland from 1996 to 1998.
She was the first wife of Icelandic president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson.
Guðrún Katrín studied archaeology and sociology.
She was the General Manager of the Postal Workers Union for nearly 20 years, and managed a clothing store in downtown Reykjavík.
She was also active in politics and held a city council post in the town of Seltjarnarnes for 16 years.
She married Ólafur in 1974 and the following year gave birth to twin daughters, Guðrún Tinna and Svanhildur Dalla.
Guðrún Katrín was very popular in Iceland, and her charm and charisma are considered by many as one of the main reasons her husband was elected president of Iceland in June 1996.
Guðrún Katrín was diagnosed with leukemia in September 1997.
She spent the last few months of her life under the care of specialists in Seattle, Washington, with her family by her side, until her death in October 1998.
Her death after a long and difficult struggle, at the age of 64, was a shock to her family and the Icelandic nation.
Thóra Arnórsdóttir
Thóra Arnórsdóttir(" Þóra Arnórnsdóttir"; born 18 February 1975), is an Icelandic media personality and a candidate for the presidential election in June 2012.
She has worked as a journalist and news editor at the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service.
On 4 April 2012 she announced would stand against the incumbent, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, for the Presidency of Iceland.
Barbara Árnason
Barbara Moray Williams Árnason( 19 April 1911 – 1975) was an English- born Icelandic artist, known for book illustrations, engravings in wood, and watercolours.
Born in Petersfield, she was the twin sister of writer and illustrator Ursula Moray Williams.
She attended Winchester College of Art and the Royal College of Art. Soon after graduating she was asked to illustrate Icelandic sagas, which resulted in her travelling to Iceland in 1936, where she met sculptor and painter Magnús Á. Árnason.
They married in 1937 and she moved to Iceland the same year.
She was already known as a book illustrator before moving to Iceland, and also became known there for pioneering work in wood engraving and for watercolours of landscapes and children.
She also worked with textiles, and in her final years with water- colour engraving.
In 1952, she painted a mural titled" Children at Play" in the assembly hall of the Melaskóli, a school in Reykjavík.
She also created a large number of decorative plaques, some of which can still be seen near the school.
She illustrated and designed covers for many children's books, but also illustrated the" Passion Hymns" of Hallgrímur Pétursson, which took her seven years.
The art museum in Kópavogur, which holds a collection of her work, held a centennial exhibition for her in 2011, the opening presided over by the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson.
Work by her was also included in the exhibition" Perspectives- On the Borders of Art and Philosophy" at the Reykjavík Art Museum the same year.
Rodney Eastman
Rodney Eastman( born July 20, 1967) is a Canadian actor.
He is also a musician in a band called King Straggler with fellow actors John Hawkes and Brent Gore.
The band resides in Los Angeles, California.

Question: Did Michael Hawkes and Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson share the same nationality?
Answer: no