Gunnar Thoroddsen

Gunnar Thoroddsen (born December 28, 1910 in Reykjavík , † September 27, 1983 ibid) was an Icelandic politician of the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkur) and Prime Minister of Iceland .

biography

Gunnar Thoroddsen began his political career as early as 1934 when, at the age of just 23, he became the youngest member of the Althing ever to be elected (it was only in 2013 that an even younger person, 21-year-old Jóhanna María Sigmundsdóttir , was able to win a seat in the Althing). In the Althing he represented the interests of the Independence Party (Sjálfstæðisflokkur) until he waived re-election in the parliamentary elections in May 1983. Between 1940 and 1943 he was also chairman of the National Youth Organization of the Independence Party (Samband ungra sjálfstæðismanna). After studying law , he was a professor at the University of Iceland between 1940 and 1950 .

From February 4, 1947 to November 19, 1959 he was also Mayor of Reykjavík and then between 1959 and 1965 Minister of Finance (Fjármálaráðuneytið) in the governments of Ólafur Thors and Bjarni Benediktsson . 1961 to 1965 he was the first time deputy chairman of the Independence Party.

Between 1965 and 1969 he represented Iceland as ambassador to Denmark . During this time he completed in 1968 his promotion to the doctorate ( Ph. D. ) in Law with a thesis on the subject of the insult (Fjölmæli). As such, Gunnar Thoroddsen was a candidate for the independence election in 1968 in the presidential election of 1968. However, he was defeated in the election to succeed his father-in-law Ásgeir Ásgeirsson as President of Iceland against the non-party candidate Kristján Eldjarn . Although polls previously saw Gunnar with a share of 70 percent of the vote, Eldjárn ultimately achieved a huge electoral success with 65.6 percent of the vote and a voter turnout of 92.2 percent. In 1970 he was appointed judge at the Supreme Court of Iceland ( Hæstiréttur ).

In the government of Geir Hallgrímsson , he was Minister for Industry and Social Welfare from August 28, 1974 to June 27, 1978. Between November 1974 and November 1981 he was also again deputy chairman of the Independence Party. When it came between Hallgrímsson, who was also chairman of the Independence Party, and him to disagreements over the politics of the Independence Party after the lost 1978 election, Gunnar Thoroddsen left in 1980 with a few other members of the parliamentary group.

As the successor to the social democratic minority government of Benedikt Sigurðsson Gröndal , on February 8, 1980, as Prime Minister, he formed a coalition government with the agrarian Progress Party (Framsóknarflokkurinn) and the communist -style People's Alliance (Alþýðubandalag). At 69, Gunnar Thoroddsen became the oldest prime minister in Iceland's history. For health reasons he decided not to run again for the Althing in May 1983 and handed over the business of government on May 26, 1983 to the chairman of the Progress Party and previous Minister for Fisheries and Communications Steingrímur Hermannsson .

source

• Biographical information in rulers.org

Individual evidence

1. ↑ History of the SUS (Icelandic)
2. ^ Gisli Palsson, E. Paul Durrenberger (Ed.): Images of Contemporary Iceland: Everyday Lives and Global Contexts . University of Iowa Press, Iowa City 1996, ISBN 1-58729-177-0 , pp. 113 (English, 285 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).
3. ^ 1968 presidential election
4. ↑ Biography on the homepage of the Supreme Court ( memento of the original dated August 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Wolfgang Ismayr (Ed.): The political systems of Western Europe (=  UTB for science: political science ). Springer-Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-531-16464-9 , pp. 202 (1019 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).
6. ^ Oskar Niedermayer, Richard Stöss, Melanie Haas (eds.): The party systems of Western Europe (=  SpringerLink: books ). Springer-Verlag, 2006, ISBN 3-531-14111-2 , pp. 271 (581 p., Limited preview in Google Book search).

predecessor	Office	successor
Bjarni Benediktsson	Mayor of Reykjavík 1947–1959	Auður Auðuns

Note: Icelanders are referred to by their first name or first and last name, but not just their surname. Further information can be found under Icelandic personal name .