Hagskýrslur um kosningar - 01.01.1988, Blaðsíða 21

Forsetakjör 1988
19
kvæða ógildur í kosningum, ýmist sökum þess að
kjósandi skilar auðum seðli eða ómerkir hann
viljandi eða af vangá. í 3. yfirliti á bls. 14 er sýnt
hlutfall auðra og ógildra seðla af atkvæðatölunni í
hveiju kjördæmi, og f 7. yfirlití á bls. 17 sést tala
þeirra og hlutfall af greiddum atkvæðum síðan
alþingiskosningar urðu skriflegar árið 1908.
7. English summary
1. Presidential election 1988
According to the Constitution of June 17,
1944, the President of Iceland shall be elected by
a direct popular vote, and according to the Presi-
dential Elections Act, these shall take place every
four years at the end of June.
Mrs. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, the fourth Presi-
dentof Iceland (b. April 15,1930),wasfirstelect-
ed in the presidentíal election of June 29, 1980.
She was re-elected for a second term in 1984. No
ballot was held, as she was the only candidate.
The first President of Iceland, Mr. Sveinn
Bjömsson (1882-1952), was elected for a one-
year term by the Althing at the same time as the Re-
public was re-established on June 17, 1944. He
was re-elected unopposed, without a ballot, in ac-
cordance with the Constitution in 1945 and 1949,
and served as President until his death. Mr. Ásgeir
Ásgeirsson (1894-1972) was elected as the sec-
ond President of Iceland in 1952, and re-elected
unopposed without a ballot in 1956, 1960 and
1964. Dr. Kristján Eldjám (1916-1982) was
elected as the third President of Iceland in 1968,
and re-elected unopposed without a ballot in 1972
and 1976.
According to the Presidentíal Electíons Act,
the Prime Minister shall announce when elections
are due to take place, stating the minimum and
maximum number of supporting signatures from
voters registered on the electoral roll which are
required from each quarter of the country. These
numbers shall correspond to the number of eli-
gible voters, and are shown in the text on p. 9. The
total number of signatures is stípulated in the
Constitution.
Any person 35 years of age or older is eligible
for the Presidency, provided the requirements for
candidature in general elections are met. Domicile
in Iceland, however, is not a condition. In general
elections any citizen of unblemished character
who has the right to vote is eligible, with the ex-
ception of the Judges of the Supreme Court.
Declararion of candidature together with the
required documents must be in the hands of the
Ministry of Justíce not later than five weeks prior
to electíon day. On May 24 the ministry an-
nounced that two eligible candidates were stand-
ing for the Presidency in the coming electíon, Mrs.
Sigrún Thorsteinsdóttir, housewife (b. 1941), and
Mrs. Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, President of Iceland.
This was the first time that a president seeking re-
election is opposed by another candidate.
According to the Presidentíal Elections Act,
the election shall be conducted in accordance with
the General Electíons Act. An exceptíon is that the
Supreme Court is entmsted with the tasks which
otherwise are the responsibility of the National
Electoral Committee.
According to the General Electíons Act, the
electoral rolls are the responsibility of local gov-
emment. The roll shall be made available two
months in advance of the elec tíon for inspectíon by
the public over a periodof four weeks. Complaints
can be made until two weeks before the election.
The local govemment is to process any complaints
one week before the electíon at the latest. At this
tíme the electoral roll is signed by the local govem-
ment, and thereafter can only be altered by court
order.
As it became evident only by late May that a
ballot would in fact take place, the Ministry of
Justice made use of provisions in the General Elec-
tíons Act to shorten the time limits prescribed.
Local govemments (towns since 1908 and
other communes since 1927) are free to divide a
commune into polling areas. This has been done
in several towns, townships and other communes,
as shown in the text table on p. 8. The number of
polling areas in elections 1931—88 is shown in
summary table 5 on p. 15.
2. Voters on the electoral roll
The number of voters registered on the elec-
toral roll for the presidentíal electíon of June 25,
1988, was 173,829, corresponding to 69.9 percent
of the populatíon, which is estímated to have to-
talled 248,800 in June 1988.
Summary table 1 on p. 11 shows the numberof