Advance polling for the national referendum on the new Icesave legislation, which will take place on April 9, begins at the office of the District Commissioner in Reykjavík today. Voting takes place during office hours until March 25.
On Saturday, March 19, the polling station will be open from 12-2 pm and at the same time on Saturday and Sunday, March 26-27, as stated in a press release from the office.
As of March 28, advance polling will take place in the Laugardalshöll sports arena in Reykjavík every day until April 9 from 10 am to 10 pm and from 10 am to 5 pm on the election day.
Ólafur Margeirsson, a PhD student in economics at the University of Exeter, has written a thorough report on Icesave, concluding that even though passing the Icesave legislation will buy time to reorganize the country’s economic system, the state treasury is likely to go bankrupt a few years later, visir.is reports.
Margeirsson also stated that if the legislation is rejected it would place Iceland under pressure to rapidly reorganize the pension and economic system and economic growth wouldn’t be high immediately afterwards. However, if Icelanders make the right moves, they could secure themselves a bright future, he argued.
Meanwhile, Mayor of Reykjavík Jón Gnarr, who is currently at a conference on art and politics in Vienna, declared in an interview with the Austrian news agency APA that if Icelanders were to reject the new Icesave legislation in the referendum it would have serious consequences for the nation.
According to Morgunbladid, the mayor explained that if the legislation were rejected Iceland’s application for European Union membership would be at risk, as would the coalition government of Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir.
The conservatives might get a chance to seize power again, in which case he would move to Cape Verde, Gnarr stated. He added that he is going to vote in favor of the legislation, “Not because I understand it or believe it is right, I have simply grown tired of the matter. I plan to vote it away.”
Gnarr has been criticized by the opposition in the Reykjavík City Council for not attending the current meetings on the merging of schools and elementary schools because he’s attending the conference in Vienna, dv.is reports.
Click here to read more about the controversial merger plans and here to read more about Icesave.
