Halla Tomasdottir will be the second woman to serve as president of Iceland.
Reykjavik:
Businesswoman Halla Tomasdottir was declared the winner of Iceland’s presidential election on Sunday, final results showed, defeating former prime minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, who critics considered too political for the job.
Jakobsdottir admitted defeat on Sunday morning and congratulated Tomasdottir, CEO of The B Team, a global non-profit organization co-founded by UK business mogul Richard Branson to promote business practices focused on humanity and climate.
Iceland’s president occupies a largely ceremonial position in the parliamentary republic, acting as guarantor of the constitution and national unity.
However, he or she has the power to veto legislation or submit it to a referendum.
Tomasdottir, 55, won 34.3 percent of the vote, ahead of Jakobsdottir, 48, who won 25.5 percent after stepping down as prime minister of a left-right government in April to run in Saturday’s elections.
Tomasdottir, who came second in a previous run for president in 2016, received much broader support than opinion polls suggested in the run-up to this year’s vote, emerging in the final days of the campaign after running neck and neck with Jakobsdottir.
Jakobsdottir admitted defeat early on Sunday, before the last votes were counted.
“It seems to me that Halla Tomasdottir is quickly moving towards becoming the next president of Iceland.
“I congratulate her on this and I know she will be a good president,” Jakobsdottir told national broadcaster RUV at an election night rally.
Second female president
Tomasdottir was due to make a televised address to the nation later on Sunday. During her election rally in the early hours of Sunday, she told the Morgunbladid daily that she was “just trying to breathe.”
“I feel incredibly good. I know it’s not over until it’s over. So I’m also just trying to stay calm and breathe,” she said.
Tomasdottir is also the founder of Audur Capital, an investment company created in 2007 with the aim of promoting feminine values in the financial sector.
No central issue dominated the campaign, where candidates traditionally run as independents with no party affiliations.
In the country of 380,000 inhabitants, any citizen who gathers 1,500 signatures can run for public office.
Although Jakobsdottir was sometimes seen as the favorite, political observers suggested that her past as prime minister could count against her.
Among the other top candidates in the field of 13 were a political science professor, a comedian and an Arctic and energy scholar.
Tomasdottir will be the second woman to serve as president of Iceland.
In 1980, Vigdis Finnbogadottir became the world’s first woman democratically elected head of state.
Tomasdottir will take up the role on August 1, succeeding the hugely popular Gudni Johannesson, who has held the role since 2016.
He announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election.
Jakobsdottir, leader of the Green Left Movement party from 2013 until her presidential bid, has been praised for her handling of the resurgence of volcanic eruptions on the Reykjanes peninsula since December.
The five eruptions, including one last week, have prompted a series of evacuations as well as the state takeover of homes belonging to residents evacuated from the endangered fishing town of Grindavik.
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