Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson | |
|---|---|
| 5th President of Iceland | |
| Assumed office August 1 1996 | |
| Preceded by | Vigdís Finnbogadóttir |
| Personal details | |
| Born | May 14 1943 Ísafjörður, Iceland |
| Nationality | Iceland |
| Spouse | Dorrit Moussaieff |
| Profession | Former Professor, Minister of Finance and Parliament Member |
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson () (born 14 May 1943, in Ísafjörður, Iceland) is the fifth and current President of Iceland, from 1996 to present, re-elected unopposed in 2000, and was re-elected for a third term in 2004.
From 1962 to 1970, he studied economics and political science at the University of Manchester. He was a professor at the University of Iceland for political science, served as Member of Althing, was Minister of Finance (1988–1991) and served as chairman of the left People's Alliance (1987–1995).
As member of the Althing, Ólafur was among the most controversial politicians in Iceland. Originally elected from a field of four candidates with 42% of the total votes, Ólafur has from the outset been a controversial figure in the office of President, an office that has mainly ceremonial functions meant to symbolise national unity and bears no responsibility for government affairs.
He married Guðrún Katrín Þorbergsdóttir in 1974, who gave birth to twin daughters the following year. Guðrún Katrín was very popular in Iceland, and her charisma is without a doubt one of the reasons her husband was elected. Her death from leukaemia in 1998 was a shock to the nation and her family.
Ólafur's second marriage was to Dorrit Moussaieff to whom he had been engaged since May 2000. This took place on his 60th birthday 14 May 2003 in a private ceremony held at the presidential residence.
He is the first president to use the authorization given in the 26th article of the Icelandic constitution to veto a law from Alþingi, in which case the law in question would be put to a national referendum. He did that on June 2, 2004 to a law about the mass media. His decision remains controversial with politicians and legal scholars alike. Some consider the veto as "an attack" on Alþingi and parliamentary sovereignty and lawyers debate whether article 26 is actually valid. No national referendum was ever held about the controversial media law as the government withdrew the law before a referendum could be held.
In the 2004 presidential elections, Ólafur was re-elected with 67.5% of the votes cast (down from over 95% in the only other time an incumbent has been contested), but that election also saw a record number of empty ballots (21.2%) and an exceptionally low turnout of 63% (usually 80-90%), both of which have been interpreted as dissent with the president's decision to not sign the media law. Since then, the issue of a constitutional amendment to revoke the veto power of the president has been raised by the Independence Party. Some have also wanted to rest that power with the people themselves, who could then force referendums to be held on laws by – for instance – collecting a certain number of signatures.
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