2012 Icelandic presidential election

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, 2011

The 2012 Icelandic presidential election was held on June 30, 2012. The Icelandic head of state is elected for a period of four years. Six candidates ran for election. The incumbent Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson was re-elected with a majority of 52.8% of the vote.

Candidates

Incumbent Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson , who had been in office since 1996 and was in his fourth presidency, indicated in his 2012 New Year's address that he wanted greater freedom for himself and his activities without the burden of a presidency. At the same time, he avoided making a specific statement as to whether he wanted to run again or not. As a result, there was speculation about a possible resignation of Ólafur. After 30,000 Icelanders signed a petition in support of Ólafur, Ólafur announced his renewed candidacy in early March 2012.

Þóra Arnórsdóttir achieved good poll numbers during the summer . She works as a news editor for Icelandic Radio ( Ríkisútvarpið ), lives with Svavar Halldórsson and is the mother of three children.

The other candidates were Ari Trausti Guðmundsson , the law professor Herdís Þorgeirsdóttir , Andrea Jóhanna Ólafsdóttir , chairwoman of Hagsmunasamtök heimilanna (Coalition of Home Owners), and the geographer Hannes Bjarnason .

Ástþór Magnússon had also announced his candidacy . It would have been his third candidacy after 1996 and 2004 . As in 2000 , he was not allowed to vote in 2012.

Survey

Surname	11-12 April	26th of April	10-15 May	8-18 May	23–24 May	1-5 June	14.-20. June	22-26 June	25-26 June
Andrea Ólafsdóttir	-	-	-	3.8%	2.7%	2.1%	1.6%	2.5%	1.7%
Ari Trausti Guðmundsson	-	11.5%	8.9%	8.9%	5.3%	9.2%	10.5%	9.3%	7.5%
Ástþór Magnússon	1.5%	0.8%	0.9%	0.4%	0.9%	-	-	-	-
Hannes Bjarnason	0.4%	0.3%	0.6%	0.2%	0%	1.1%	0.8%	0.8%	0.3%
Herdís Þorgeirsdóttir	2.9%	3.0%	1.3%	2.6%	1.3%	2.6%	5.3%	3.4%	2.6%
Jón Lárusson	1.2%	0.6%	1.0%	0.1%	1.2%	-	-	-	-
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson	46.0%	34.8%	41.3%	37.8%	53.9%	45.8%	44.8%	50.8%	57.0%
Þóra Arnórsdóttir	46.5%	49.0%	43.4%	46.2%	35.3%	39.3%	37.0%	33.6%	30.8%

Result

Bottom line:

candidate	Result
	be right	percent
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson	84.036	52.8
Þóra Arnórsdóttir	52,795	33.2
Ari Trausti Guðmundsson	13,762	8.6
Herdís Þorgeirsdóttir	4.189	2.6
Andrea Jóhanna Ólafsdóttir	2,867	1.8
Hannes Bjarnason	1,556	1.0
total	159.205	100.0

With 163,251 votes cast, the turnout was 69.3 percent. This was the second lowest mobilization in the history of Icelandic presidential elections.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} goiceland.is: Iceland's president might seek a fifth term (engl.)
2. ↑ forseti.is: New Year's Address by the Icelandic President 2012 (English) ( Memento from October 20, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 37 kB)
3. ↑ bloomberg.com: Iceland President seeks fifth term after petition from voters
4. ↑ Hege Pauline Hovig: Iceland's President encounters resistance (Norwegian) ( Memento from February 23, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Dagsavisen.no, June 28, 2012
5. ↑ icenews.is: First candidate revealed for Iceland presidential election
6. ↑ smugan.is: 22 prósent óákveðin - Þóra og Ólafur jöfn (isl.) , May 1, 2012
7. ↑ mbl.is: Þóra mælist með mest fylgi (isl.) May 1, 2012.
8. ↑ Iceland Review: Top Presidential Candidates Neck-on-Neck in Polls , May 16, 2012
9. ↑ ruv.is: Þóra með forskot á Ólaf (isl.) , May 18, 2012
10. ↑ Iceland Review: Ólafur Ragnar Takes Lead in Iceland Presidential Race , May 25, 2012
11. ↑ Iceland Review: President of Iceland Still Gets Most Support in Polls June 24, 2012
12. ↑ Iceland Review: Both Top Presidential Candidates Lose Support , June 24th
13. ↑ Iceland Review: Iceland Prepares to Elect New President , June 29, 2012
14. ↑ Iceland Review: Iceland Prepares to Elect New President , June 29, 2012
15. ↑ Presidential Elections (Isl.) Kosningasaga, accessed August 7, 2012
16. ↑ Turnout (Icelandic) Icelandic Broadcasting, July 1, 2012, accessed on July 2, 2012

Web links

• Interview series on the election The Reykjavík Grapevine. News from Iceland