Til hamingju Halla
After about 199,088 of 266,935 votes have been counted, it looks like Halla Tómasdóttir was elected as the new president of Iceland. Congratulations, Halla!
It's a pity that Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, who's been president for the last eight years, did not stand for election again; I was actually sad when I heard his announcement to this effect in his New Year's speech this year. He was a good president - modest, down-to-earth, accessible, a man who received respect precisely because he did not demand it.
I hope that Halla will be like that, too.
Also I've got to say I'm kinda glad that Katrín Jakobsdóttir was not elected, for the sole reason that she only stepped down from her post as prime minister two months ago. Moving from a partisan political position (head of government) to a representative, non-partison one (head of state) within less than two months is too fast in my book.
Anyhow - excited to see what the next four years will bring!
(Also I'm still kinda sad that Ásdís Rán wasn't elected. And here I was hoping for a queendom.)
EDIT, 2024-09-18: I never mentioned it, but yes, Halla was indeed elected after all the votes had been counted, with 73,182 votes out 214,318 valid ballots cast (34,1%). The total number of ballots cast including invalid was 215,635 (33,9%), while the number of eligible voters was 266,935 (27,4%), and the population of Iceland was estimated at 383,726 at the beginning of the year (19,1%).
I'm including these extra figures and percentages because I think it's a good idea for politicians to keep in mind that they were not, in fact, voted for by most people. For instance, Joe Biden received 81,283,501 votes in the 2020 US presidential election; the best estimate of the US population at the time is from the 2020 census that estimated that on April 1 2020, there were 331,108,434 people living in the USA, yielding 24,5%, and when Bush Junior was handed the presidency by SCOTUS, he had received 50,456,002 votes, whereas the 2000 census had estimated a total population of 281,421,906, giving him the direct support of 17,9% of the people - meaning that almost five out of every six did not vote for him.
It's a pity that Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, who's been president for the last eight years, did not stand for election again; I was actually sad when I heard his announcement to this effect in his New Year's speech this year. He was a good president - modest, down-to-earth, accessible, a man who received respect precisely because he did not demand it.
I hope that Halla will be like that, too.
Also I've got to say I'm kinda glad that Katrín Jakobsdóttir was not elected, for the sole reason that she only stepped down from her post as prime minister two months ago. Moving from a partisan political position (head of government) to a representative, non-partison one (head of state) within less than two months is too fast in my book.
Anyhow - excited to see what the next four years will bring!
(Also I'm still kinda sad that Ásdís Rán wasn't elected. And here I was hoping for a queendom.)
EDIT, 2024-09-18: I never mentioned it, but yes, Halla was indeed elected after all the votes had been counted, with 73,182 votes out 214,318 valid ballots cast (34,1%). The total number of ballots cast including invalid was 215,635 (33,9%), while the number of eligible voters was 266,935 (27,4%), and the population of Iceland was estimated at 383,726 at the beginning of the year (19,1%).
I'm including these extra figures and percentages because I think it's a good idea for politicians to keep in mind that they were not, in fact, voted for by most people. For instance, Joe Biden received 81,283,501 votes in the 2020 US presidential election; the best estimate of the US population at the time is from the 2020 census that estimated that on April 1 2020, there were 331,108,434 people living in the USA, yielding 24,5%, and when Bush Junior was handed the presidency by SCOTUS, he had received 50,456,002 votes, whereas the 2000 census had estimated a total population of 281,421,906, giving him the direct support of 17,9% of the people - meaning that almost five out of every six did not vote for him.