Forsetakjör - 01.11.1997, Blaðsíða 26

Forsetakjör - 01.11.1997, Blaðsíða 26
24 Forsetakjör 1996 Nordic convention on population registration entered into force, stipulating among other things that the registration of immigration by one Nordic country automatically causes registration of emigration and loss of domicile in the other. As this provision meant that Icelandic students in the Nordic countries no longer kept their domicile in Iceland, special measures were taken to include them in the electoral rolls. This arrangement lasted until 1987 when the right to vote was extended, as already described, to all persons who emigrated from Iceland during a specified number of years prior to an election. According to the General Elections Act, each person is to be entered on an electoral roll in the municipality in which he or she is domiciled according to the National Register of Persons 3 weeks prior to election day. This is a new rule enacted in the 1995 amendment to the General Elections Act. In the 1991 general election, this reference time was set at 7 weeks. Before that, the electoral roll was based on domicile on 1 December prior to the election day. Local govemments base their final electoral rolls on pre- liminary rolls provided by Statistics Iceland. Changes are effected in the final electoral roll in the event of the death of a voter, a local govemment decision to include those who have gained Icelandic citizenship in the interim or delete those who have lost it, or for some other legitimate reason. Summary 3 shows the number of voters on the electoral roll and according to the preliminary rolls. The number of voters on the electoral roll has been more or less equally divided between men and women in elections for the past two decades. Women outnumbered men by 117 in the 1996 presidential election. Some 39.4% of the total voters on the electoral roll in 1996 were not old enough to vote in the presidential election of 1980, and those who reached voting age after the presidential election of 1988 accounted for 17.2% of the total. The highest percentage of voters domi- ciled abroad was in the constituency of Reykjavík, 5.0% of all voters on the electoral roll there. Summary 4 shows the distribution of voters domiciled abroad by age as well as by country of domicile. Table 1 (pp. 28-32) shows the number of voters, by sex, in the constituencies and municipalities, and at each polling station in municipalities with more than one polling station. Table 2 (pp. 33-36) shows the number of voters domiciled in the municipality concemed or abroad. 3. Participation in the election In the presidential election of 1996, 167,334 persons cast their vote, corresponding to 85.9% of the voters on the electoral roll. This is a higher participation rate than in the presidential elections of 1952 and 1988 but lower than in those of 1968 and 1980. In general elections, the participa- tion rate has not been this low since 1942. The highest participation rate in a general election was in 1956, at 92.1%. In the referendum held in 1944, on the abrogation of the Danish-Icelandic Union Treaty of 1918 and on the Constitu- tion of the Republic, the participation rate was 98.4%. Summary 1 shows participation rates in elections since 1874, both total figures and separately for men and women. In the presidential election of 1996, participation by men was 84.1% and by women 87.7%. The general election of 1995 was the first parliamentary election where the participation rate was higher among women than men, although this had occurred previously in presidential elections, in 1980 and 1988. Table 1 shows the number of votes cast and participation rates in each municipality. Voters and votes are counted in the area of registration, even in the case of persons who voted at another polling station. Table 2 shows participation rates of voters domiciled respectively in Iceland and abroad. The participation rates of voters domiciled in Iceland was 88.6% compared with 22.0% of those domiciled abroad. Summary 5 shows participation rates according to sex in each constituency. In all eight constituencies, women’s par- ticipation was greater than that of men. Summary 6 shows the number of municipalities in each constituency by degree of participation. 4. Voting at polling stations Local governments (towns since 1908 and other municipali- ties since 1927) are free to divide the municipality into polling stations. This has been done in several places, as can be seen in Table 1. Summary 7 shows the number of polling stations and polling wards in each constituency in the 1996 election. Summary 8 includes the number of polling wards since 1931. Voters are entitled to vote at any polling station in their constituencies, provided they present a document, issued by the electoral committee of their polling station, to the elec- toral committee of the polling station where they intend to vote, stating that they are registered as voters and have relinquished the right to vote there. This option went into effect in the 1916 general election and was exercised then by 2.9% of those who voted. At that time and until the summer election of 1959, these were partly absentee votes that could not reach the polling station of registration before closing time. In later elections, the use of this right has diminished to very small percentages. In the presidential election of 1996, a total of 7 persons cast their votes in a municipality other than that in which they were registered. A total of 102 persons exercised the right to vote at a different polling station within their home municipality. Summary 9 shows the number of votes cast at a polling station other than that of registration in the 1996 presidential election in each constituency, by sex, and Summary 5 shows these as a proportion of the total number of votes. 5. Absentee voting A voter who expects to be unable to attend the election in his or her polling station on election day can cast an absentee vote. The conditions for the right to absentee voting have been eased since it was first authorized in the general election of 1916. At that time, the right was limited to seamen and others who expected to be absent from their home municipality on election day and would not be able to exercise the right to vote at another polling station (cf. chapter 4). In 1974 this right was extended to those who were expected to be in hospital and to pregnant women who might not be able to vote on election day. In 1983 the right was further extended to those who for religious reasons could not vote on election day. As from 1987, no reason needs to be given for absentee voting.

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