The National Returning Board announced which 25 candidates were elected to the Constitutional Assembly yesterday afternoon. Economics professor Thorvaldur Gylfason received by far the most votes in the Constitutional Assembly elections.
“I’m very satisfied with the results. It appears to me that this is a good group of people who have relatively similar viewpoints in terms of the main issues regarding the administration and I emphasize that there is reconciliation at the Constitutional Assembly,” Gylfason commented on news magazine Kastljós.
The list of Constitutional Assembly elects is as follows:
1. Thorvaldur Gylfason, professor, 7,192 votes as first priority.
2. Salvör Nordal, director of the University of Iceland Ethics Institute, 2,842 votes as first priority.
3. Ómar Thorfinnur Ragnarsson, media presenter, 2,440 votes as first priority.
4. Andrés Magnússon, physician, 2,175 votes as first priority.
5. Pétur Gunnlaugsson, lawyer and radio presenter, 1,989 votes as first priority.
6. Thorkell Helgason, mathematician, 1,930 votes as first priority.
7. Ari Teitsson, farmer, 1,686 votes as first priority.
8. Illugi Jökulsson, journalist, 1,593 votes as first priority.
9. Freyja Haraldsdóttir, manager, 1,089 votes as first priority.
10. Silja Bára Ómarsdóttir, expert in international politics, 1,054 votes as first priority.
11. Örn Bárdur Jónsson, pastor, 806 votes as first priority.
12. Eiríkur Bergmann Einarsson, reader of political science, 753 votes as first priority.
13. Dögg Hardardóttir, divisional manager, 674 votes as first priority.
14. Vilhjálmur Thorsteinsson, chairman of CCP, 672 votes as first priority.
15. Thórhildur Thorleifsdóttir, theater director, 584 votes as first priority.
16. Pawel Bartoszek, mathematician, 584 votes as first priority.
17. Arnfrídur Gudmundsdóttir, professor, 531 votes as first priority.
18. Erlingur Sigurdarson, former director of the Matthías Jochumsson museum and teacher at MA, the junior college in Akureyri, 526 votes as first priority.
19. Inga Lind Karlsdóttir, media presenter and university student, 493 votes as first priority.
20. Katrín Oddsdóttir, lawyer, 479 votes as first priority.
21. Gudmundur Gunnarsson, chairman of the Union of Icelandic Electrical Workers, 432 votes as first priority.
22. Katrín Fjelsted, physician, 418 votes as first priority.
23. Ástrós Gunnlaugsdóttir, student and political scientist, 396 votes as first priority.
24. Gísli Tryggvason, spokesperson for consumers, 348 votes as first priority.
25. Lýdur Árnason, physician and filmmaker, 347 votes as first priority.
The gender distribution is fairly equal, with ten women among the 25 elects, so it wasn’t necessary to use the legal provision on gender quota and increase the number of Constitutional Assembly members, Fréttabladid reports.
Notably, only three of the 25 elects have their legal residence outside the capital region but there is no provision to equal the distribution between places of residence.
There were 232,374 voters on the register of voters and a total of 83,531 people used their right to vote, which is a turnout of 35.9 percent. There were 1,196 invalid ballots, which is 1.4 percent of all ballots.
Most of the people elected are well-known individuals, which is not surprising, according to political scientist Stefanía Óskarsdóttir.
“A few of the elected candidates have not been in the spotlight, such as Ástrós Gunnlaugsdóttir, but she was one of those who advertised,” she pointed out.
She believes the group will work together in solidarity; that the more conservative candidates will give in to those advocating certain changes.
Óskarsdóttir also believes that people who support the coalition parties in the government were more eager to vote in Saturday’s election than those who support the opposition.
“Maybe it is therefore likely that there will be harmony between the government and the Constitutional Assembly,” she speculated.
Gunnar Helgi Kristinsson, professor in political science, believes the elects have a weak authority given that there are few votes behind each individual.
“The election system didn’t allow people to estimate their votes according to viewpoints or groups. Therefore it is difficult to analyze the results,” he commented.
However, Thorvaldur Gylfason, the winner of the election, said on Kastljós that the assembly’s authority isn’t weak, pointing out that some of the world’s best constitutions, such as the American and South African, were written with the support of only a few hundred individuals.
Gylfason added that since it is likely that the constitutional draft will include a provision decreasing the number of MPs, the Althingi parliament is in fact unfit to discuss the draft and should send it unchanged to a national referendum.
Click here to read more about the Constitutional Assembly election.
