Role of the president
The president is Iceland's head of state and is elected by direct vote for a term of four years at a time. The president’s official role is described in Iceland’s constitution and code of law, but the president also carries out various traditional duties and places issues of relevance and importance on the agenda.
According to the constitution of the Republic of Iceland, legislative and executive power is shared by elected representatives and the president of Iceland. The president formally opens sessions of Parliament and must sign off on the appointment of ministers, laws passed by Parliament, various government decisions and agreements with foreign governments. She sits on the State Council alongside government ministers and presides over Council meetings. Among other things, the State Council discusses bills and proposals to convene and adjourn sessions of Parliament. If the president vetoes a bill passed by Parliament, the issue must be settled by referendum. By law, the president of Iceland is also Grand Master of the Order of the Falcon.
In addition to performing official duties as laid out in the constitution, the president takes on a variety of other activities per tradition and as circumstances require. The president addresses the nation on certain holidays and other notable occasions, makes official visits around the country, receives a multitude of guests, both Icelandic and foreign, and keeps abreast of the most prominent developments at home and abroad. She receives newly appointed foreign ambassadors to Iceland and formally accepts their letters of credence, and she signs letters of credence for Icelandic ambassadors appointed to posts abroad. She supports a wide variety of public interest organisations and volunteer movements. In the business world, she aims to lend support to Icelandic exports and entrepreneurship. The president frequently serves as a spokesperson for the nation on the international stage, for example in meetings with representatives of other nations and in various events and visits abroad.
Since Halla Tómasdóttir was elected president of Iceland, she has been convening conversations, asking questions and listening to diverse perspectives. She wants the presidency to be a platform for a dynamic dialogue about the Icelandic people's fundamental values and vision for the nation's future.
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Laws and legal sources
- Constitution of the Republic of Iceland
- Act on Candidacy and Election of the President of Iceland, No. 36/1945