65° - 01.07.1968, Side 22

President-elect Kristjan Eld jam and Halid ora.
Photographer: Oddur Olafsson.
Ambassador Gunnar Thoroddsen and Vala.
Photographer: Olafur K. Magnusson.
PERISCOPE Continued from page 5
wins out of a possible 14, and third was the Ice-
landic Grand Master FriSrik Olafsson with 10
wins.
*
On June 24th and 25th the Spring Meeting of
the Foreign Ministers of the NATO countries was
held in Reykjavik. The Final Communique stres-
sed the need for mutual balanced force reduction
in East and West. Anti-NATO forces in Iceland
had prepared themselves for the event and at the
opening ceremony, which was held in the Uni-
versity Cinema, a small group of people carrying
anti-NATO placards gathered outside the cinema.
That demonstration was peaceful enough, but
after the ministerial meeting had started in the
University building a group of people made a
sit-down demonstration on the steps of the Uni-
versity. Some scuffling occurred when this crowd
was being dispersed by the police. There were no
further demonstrations.
This meeting was the biggest international
meeting ever held in Iceland and everybody seems
to agree that its execution could not have been
better. A great number of foreign journalists
came to Iceland to cover the meeting and a special
press-centre was established in Hagaskoli, a sec-
ondary school close to the University.
*
After 16 years in office, President Asgeir As-
geirsson decided to retire this year. A new presi-
dent was elected on June 30th and will be in-
stalled in office on August 1st. There were two
candidates: Dr. Gunnar Thoroddsen, Icelandic
Ambassador to Copenhagen, and Dr. Kristjan
Eldjarn, Curator of the National Museum of Ice-
land. For a number of years Dr. Thoroddsen,
who is President Asgeirsson’s son-in-law, had
been considered a likely successor to the presi-
dency. Dr. Eldjarn did not appear as a candidate
until President Asgeirsson announced his retire-
ment. It was commonly considered that the race
would be a very close one as both candidates
were known to enjoy great support. Various in-
fluential persons, such as Prime Minister Bjarni
Benediktsson, supported Dr. Thoroddsen, but the
four political parties declared themselves neutral,
thereby releasing their supporters to vote for
whichever candidate they liked best.
The result, however, caused some surprise as
Dr. Kristjan Eldjarn was elected President in
what might be termed a landslide. He received a
total of 67.564 votes or 65.6 per cent of all valid
votes cast. Dr. Thoroddsen received 35.438 votes
or 34.4 per cent. The greatest surprise of the elec-
tion was Dr. Eldjarn’s victory in Reykjavik,
where he received 60 per cent of the votes, Reykja-
vik having been considered a Thoroddsen strong-
hold.
20
65 DEGREES