Sveitarstjórnarkosningar - 01.03.1999, Page 56

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Sveitarstjórnarkosningar 1998
13. English summary
A. Outline of legislation on local government elections
The Local Govemment Elections Act of 1998 stipulates that
local govemments be elected for a period of four years.
In January 1930 town council elections were held in the
eight existing towns according to the Local Govemment Act
of 1929, and were from then on to be held every four years.
Before this, elections were held in the towns at different
times according to separate statutes for each town council,
and only about half of the seats were up for election each
time. In other municipalities the older system was main-
tained, according to which elections for about half of the
seats were held every three years, and the election took place
at a public meeting unless the local council decided on a
secret ballot or ’/6 of the voters demanded it. The Local
Govemment Elections Act of 1936 provided that elections
should take place every four years in all municipalities of the
country and that all seats were up for election at the same
time. In towns and townships (municipalities where at least
% of the population live in urban localities) the elections
were to take place in January and, as a rule, be proportional,
whereas in other municipalities the elections should take
place in June and, as a rule, be direct.
As from 1998, local govemment elections are to take place
on the last Saturday of May, which does not precede Whitsun.
According to the Local Govemment Elections Act the
elections are, as a rule, proportional. If, however, no candi-
date list is presented in a municipality the election will be
direct. Where only one list of candidates has been presented
three weeks before election day, a further 48-hour period is
given for more lists to appear. If no further lists are presented,
the list is elected without voting.
The conditions for suffrage are that voters must be 18
years or over on election day, hold an Icelandic citizenship
and be domiciled in Iceland. Citizens of other Nordic coun-
tries who have been domiciled in Iceland for three years or
over also have the right to vote in local govemment elections.
Each person is to be entered on the electoral roll in the
municipality where he or she is domiciled three weeks before
election day. Local councils base their electoral rolls on
preliminary rolls provided by the National Registry of Per-
sons of Statistics Iceland. The electoral roll must be made
public ten days prior to the election and is subject to inspec-
tion and alterations as demanded by the local council in
question and the voters.
Eligibility extends to all persons who have the right to vote
in the municipality concemed and have not been declared
incapable of managing their own affairs.
Sufíf age in local govemment elections has been extended
several times since 1930. Thus the voting age has been
lowered ífom21 years in elections held in 1930-1966, to 20
yearsintheperiod 1970-1982 and, finally,to 18yearssince
the 1986 elections. The 1929 Act withheld the right to vote
from those who had been domiciled in a municipality less
than one year before the election and ffom those who were
indebted to their municipality for public assistance due to
their own laziness, intemperance or negligence. These limi-
tations were removed in 193 6 and the Local Govemment Act
of 1961 also removed the condition of unblemished charac-
ter. In 1982 citizens of otherNordic countries gained voting
rights in local govemment elections as explained above. In
1986 the deprivation of legal majority was removed as a
hindrance for the right to vote.
Absentee voting shall begin 8 weeks before election day.
The voter needs not state a specific reason for absentee
voting. Absentee votes can be cast at the office of a District
Commissioner, at the office or home of his representatives,
on board an Icelandic ship under the command of an Icelan-
dic captain, provided the voter is a registered crew member,
and in Icelandic embassies, permanant missions and consu-
lates general, and, as decided by the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs before each election, at Icelandic honorary consu-
lates. District Commissioners may conduct absentee voting
at hospitals, old-age homes and homes for the disabled for
patients and inmates, and the same applies to prisons. Upon
request, the absentee voting officer can administer absentee
voting in a private home in case of disease, disability or
childbirth.
B. 1998 local government election statistics
Summary 1 gives an overview of the main indicators in
available statistics on local govemment elections from 1930
to 1998.
The number of voters on the electoral roll in the 1998
elections was 193,632, corresponding to 71.2 per cent of the
population. This is an increase of 7,178, or 3.8 per cent, on
the 1994 elections. The age group 18-21 years, the group
that had gained suffrage since the previous elections, num-
bered 16,800, or 8.7 per cent of the voters. The number of
women on the electoral roll exceeded that of men by 840.
Participation in the elections was 82.3 per cent, consider-
ably lower than in 1994 but similar to 1990 and 1986.
Participation was higher for women than for men, or 83.0 per
cent as against 81.5 per cent. In earlier elections, participa-
tion used to be higher for men than women, but in the local
govemment elections of 1994 and 1998, in the general
elections of 1995 and in the presidential elections of 1980,
1988 and 1996, participation of women has exceeded that of
men. Participation is higher in municipalities with propor-
tional voting, 82.6 per cent as against 74.1 per cent in
municipalities with direct voting. Absentee votes were 10.5
per cent of the votes cast.
In the elections, 58 municipalities with 3.4 per cent of the
total number of voters had direct voting, while 66 munici-
palities with 96.6 per cent of the voters had proportional
voting. In these, 187 candidate lists were presented for
election, including two lists that were elected without a ballot
as they were unopposed in their respective municipalities.
The highest number of candidate lists was six and five,
occurring in one municipality each.
The 187 candidate lists contained the names of 2,740
persons, 1,698 men and 1,042 women. One list was com-
posed ofmen only. Women outnumbered men or were equal
innumber on 33 lists while men outnumbered women on 153
lists.
Out of the total number of votes cast, 159,187, there were
3,701 blank votes and 666 were deemed void. Thus 154,820