Close race as Iceland votes to elect new president
Al Jazeera
Vote looks set to be a close competition between three women: former PM Katrin Jakobsdottir; businesswoman Halla Tomasdottir; and Arctic scholar Halla Hrund Logadottir.
Voters in Iceland are casting ballots to pick the country’s new president, a largely ceremonial position in the parliamentary republic.
The vote on Saturday looks set to be a close competition between three women: former Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir; businesswoman Halla Tomasdottir; and Arctic and energy scholar Halla Hrund Logadottir.
Iceland’s president acts as a guarantor of the constitution and national unity but has the power to veto legislation or submit it to a referendum.
Polling stations opened at 9am (09:00 GMT) and will close at 10pm. Results are expected early on Sunday.
The hugely popular Gudni Johannesson, who has held the job since 2016 and was re-elected in 2020 with a whopping 92 percent of the vote, announced earlier this year that he would not seek re-election.
