The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.1988, Side 31

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
29
INTERVIEW WITH
FRU VIGDIS FINNBOGADOTTIR
PRESIDENT OF ICELAND
by Amalia Lindal
She is charming, witty, cultivated and
popular. She is an advocate of equal rights.
She is over fifty, divorced, and a single
parent. She is the first woman president in
the world. She is Vigdis Finnbogaddttir,
President of Iceland.
(Amalia Lindal, a Toronto journalist
who lived in Iceland for 23 years, inter-
viewed the new president on a recent visit to
Iceland.)
The startling absence of protocol is
what surprises me at first, but then Iceland
is a country of no titles but Reverend, and
by tradition, its president is accessible to
all.
I enter the warmth of Government House
from the minus 13 degrees December dawn
— the coldest year in Iceland’s recorded
history — and am directed to the waiting
room by a gentleman pulling on his galoshes
in the hall. A male secretary records my
name, and the President’s private secretary
comes in to confirm the appointment time.
Only a few moments wait and I am ushered
into the sunny (it’s now clear daylight) and
comfortable receiving room, somewhat
reminiscent of Victorian styling, but actu-
ally Danish traditional with heavy furni-
ture, thickly upholstered.
Fru Vigdis (Fru or Mrs. is the way to
address married women one has not met
before) immediately takes the initiative
with a cordial handshake and a disarming,
“I really enjoyed reading your book some
years back!”
Even in this land where everyone knows
everyone or of everyone, it is still a shock
to be so greeted by the president. But then
she is an unusual lady — medium height
and fair-haired, with an aura as warm as
her handknit beige dress — the kind of
woman who dominates her clothes, yet
wears little makeup or jewelry. What
strikes me is radiant good health, shiny
blond hair, twinkly blue eyes, and smile
lines. How on earth does she look so alive
on a midwinter day when daylight lasts
only five hours.
“I’m a morning person,” she confesses,
waving me to a seat. (Her seat is beside the
imposing desk, not behind it.) “I get up at
seven and go right through the day at a
good pace. The problem comes when my
daughter, who is a night person, wants me
to go over homework or play games with
her in the evenings!” She shrugs this off
with a smile as we run quickly through the
questions to be answered.
Bits of related facts now spring handily
to mind: Only as recently as 1944 did
Iceland achieve complete independence
from Denmark and become a republic.
Until 1980, Iceland had had three presi-
dents: the first, a lawyer/statesman; the
second, a long-time Director of Education
and Parliamentarian; the third, an archae-
ologist and long-time Museum Curator.
All were men. Because the presidency is a
non-political office — matters of state are
handled by the Prime Minister, Cabinet
and Parliament — the president must have
a strong and unifying effect on the nation
internally, and be able to represent Iceland
well externally. Elections in this passionate-
ly patriotic land have always evoked more
than an 80 percent voter turnout. 90.5
percent of the electorate voted in the 1980
presidential election for the three male and
one female contender. Fru Vigdis outscored