Tomasdottir wins 34.6 p.c of the votes to grow to be the Nordic nation’s second feminine president.
Halla Tomasdottir, a businesswoman and investor, has gained Iceland’s presidential election, topping a crowded discipline of candidates during which the highest three finishers had been girls, the nation’s nationwide broadcast service stories.
Tomasdottir, 55, was elected to the largely ceremonial put up with 34.3 p.c of the vote, defeating former Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, with 25.2 p.c, and Halla Hrund Logadottir, with 15.5 p.c, RUV stated on Sunday.
Tomasdottir is presently on depart as chief government of The B Staff, a world nonprofit co-founded by UK enterprise tycoon Richard Branson to advertise enterprise practices centered on humanity and the local weather, and has workplaces in New York and London.
Iceland’s president holds a largely ceremonial place within the parliamentary republic, appearing as a guarantor of the structure and nationwide unity. She or he, nevertheless, has the facility to veto a laws or submit it to a referendum.
Tomasdottir campaigned as somebody who was above get together politics and will assist open discussions on elementary points such because the impact of social media on the psychological well being of younger folks, Iceland’s growth as a vacationer vacation spot and the function of synthetic intelligence.
She is going to change President Gudni Th Johannesson, who didn’t search re-election after two four-year phrases. Tomasdottir will take workplace on August 1.
Iceland’s second girl president
Iceland, a Nordic island nation situated within the North Atlantic, has an extended custom of electing girls to excessive workplace.
Vigdis Finnbogadottir was the primary democratically elected feminine president of any nation when she grew to become Iceland’s head of state in 1980.
The nation has additionally seen two girls function prime minister in recent times, offering stability throughout years of political turmoil.
Johanna Sigurdardottir led the federal government from 2009 to 2013, after the worldwide monetary disaster ravaged Iceland’s financial system.
Jakobsdottir, 48, grew to become prime minister in 2017, main a broad coalition that ended the cycle of crises that had triggered three elections in 4 years. She resigned in April to run for president.
Within the nation of 380,000 folks, any citizen gathering 1,500 signatures can run for workplace.
Whereas Jakobsdottir was at instances seen because the favorite, political observers had urged that her background as prime minister might weigh in opposition to her.
Among the many different predominant candidates within the discipline of 13 had been a political science professor, a comic, and an Arctic and vitality scholar.
