Guðni Th. Jóhannesson

Guðni Th. Jóhannesson
6th President of Iceland
Assumed office
1 August 2016
Prime Minister Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson
Bjarni Benediktsson
Katrín Jakobsdóttir
Preceded by Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson
Personal details
Born Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson
(1968-06-26) 26 June 1968
Reykjavík, Iceland
Political party Independent
Spouse(s) Elín Haraldsdóttir (1995–1996)
Eliza Jean Reid (2004–present)
Children 5
Alma mater University of Warwick
University of Iceland
St Antony's College, Oxford
University of London
Website Official website

Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson (born 26 June 1968)[1] is an Icelandic politician serving as the 6th and current President of Iceland since 2016. He took office after receiving the largest number of votes in the 2016 election, 71,356 (39.1%). A historian, he was a docent at the University of Iceland until his election. His field of research is modern Icelandic history, and he has published a number of works on the Cod Wars, the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis and the Icelandic presidency, among other topics.

Early life and education

Guðni is the son of teacher and journalist Margrét Thorlacius and sports instructor Jóhannes Sæmundsson.[2] His brother Patrekur Jóhannesson is a former Icelandic handball national team player.[2] Guðni played handball during his youth (both in Iceland and the UK).[2][3]

Guðni graduated from Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík in 1987 and earned a bachelor's degree in history and political science from the University of Warwick in England in 1991 and a Master of Arts in history from the University of Iceland in 1997. He has also studied German and Russian at university level.[2] In 1999, he completed an MSt degree in history from St Antony's College, at the University of Oxford.[1] In 2003, he received a PhD in history from Queen Mary, University of London.[4]

Career

Guðni has worked as a lecturer at the University of Iceland, Bifröst University and University of London.[1] At the time of his presidential candidacy he worked as a senior lecturer in history at the University of Iceland. His field of research is modern Icelandic history in which he has published a number of works, including on the Cod Wars, 2008–11 Icelandic financial crisis and the Icelandic presidency. He has written a biography of Gunnar Thoroddsen and a book about the presidency of Kristján Eldjárn.[1] Between 1992 and 1997, he also translated four works by American author Stephen King into Icelandic.[5]

Presidential candidacy

Guðni decided to stand for president on 5 May 2016. His platform included support for a citizen initiative referendum provision in the Constitution.[6] Early polls showed significant support,[7] and following incumbent president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson's decision to drop out of the race Guðni saw an increase in popularity reflected in various polls, which ranked him first with 67% to 69%, far ahead of other contenders.[8] Guðni was elected on 25 June after receiving a plurality with 39.1% of the vote.[9]

Guðni was unaffiliated with any of Iceland's political parties.[10] Describing himself, Guðni stated that he would be a "less political president" than his predecessor Olafur Ragnar Grimsson due to a lack of political partisanship.[10] Guðni has emphasized the importance of unity for the small Nordic nation.[10]

President of Iceland

Guðni took office as President of Iceland on 1 August 2016.[11] At 48, Guðni became Iceland's youngest president.[10] Roughly one month into his term, Guðni had approval ratings of 68.6% in an MMR survey, the highest approval rating that this pollster has measured for the Icelandic President since its establishment in 2011.[12][13] Early into his term, Guðni had to oversee negotiations to form a government in Iceland in the wake of the 2016 parliamentary elections that took place on 29 October.[14] These negotiations were difficult, as no pre-election coalition had a majority, and all possible majority coalitions had parties with highly divergent policy positions.[14][15][16][17][18] In December 2016, Guðni had approval ratings of 97%.[19] Such high approval ratings for Icelandic politicians are without precedent.[20]

Guðni attracted international attention in February 2017 when he jokingly vowed to ban pineapple as a pizza topping.[21]

Personal life

Religious beliefs

Guðni stands outside organized religion, but was raised in the Catholic faith. He left the Catholic Church due to its delayed and muted response to reports of criminal abuses by priests.[1][22][23] His credo is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, "human beings are born free, equal in dignity and rights. Humans are endowed with reason and conscience and should act in the spirit of brotherhood towards each other."[1][22][23]

Family

Guðni is the son of the teacher and journalist Margrét Thorlacius and the physical education teacher and coach Jóhannes Sæmundsson. His father died of cancer at the age of 42. He has two brothers, Patrekur, a former Icelandic national handball team player, who is coach of the Austria national handball team, and Jóhannes, who is a systems analyst.[1]

Guðni married Canadian Eliza Jean Reid in 2004 and they have four children together.[24] The couple, who met while both were studying in the United Kingdom, moved to Iceland in 2003.[24] Reid became First Lady of Iceland when her husband was sworn into office.[24] Guðni also has a daughter from a previous marriage.

Honours

Islands Honour

Foreign Honours

Ancestry

On Tuesday 29 November 2016, in the Icelandic newspaper Morgunblaðið, was published an article which revealed how Guðni is related to former US president Barack Obama. Every Icelander can trace themselves to the bishop of Hólar, Gottskálk grimmi Nikulásson, therefore Icelanders were able to see their own relation to Obama, though it is noted that the relation is abysmally small.

The chart was made and traced by an employee of ORG - Genealogy Services in Iceland which is run by Oddur F. Helgason, a well known genealogist in Iceland.

Chart showing the genealogical relation between the 6th President of Iceland and 44th President of the United States.

Morgunblaðið on Tuesday 24 January 2017, also published an article stating that Guðni was related to Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States through their shared ancestry of Haakon V of Norway. As in the previous case, this was also according to genealogist Oddur F. Helgason, and all Icelanders can therefore trace themselves to Mr. Trump. [29]

Bibliography

  • Kári í jötunmóð. Saga Íslenskrar erfðagreiningar og Kára Stefánssonar (Reykjavík: Nýja bókafélagið, 1999).
  • Völundarhús valdsins. Stjórnarmyndanir, stjórnarslit og staða forseta Íslands í embættistíð Kristjáns Eldjárns, 1968–1980 (Reykjavík: Mál og menning, 2005).
  • Óvinir ríkisins. Ógnir og innra öryggi í kalda stríðinu á Íslandi (Reykjavík: Mál og menning, 2006).
  • Þorskastríðin þrjú. Saga landhelgismálsins 1948–1976 (Reykjavík: Hafréttarstofnun Íslands, 2006).
  • Hrunið. Ísland á barmi gjaldþrots og upplausnar (Reykjavík: JPV, 2009)
  • Gunnar Thoroddsen. Ævisaga. (Reykjavík: JPV, 2010)
  • Fyrstu forsetarnir. (Reykjavík: Sögufélag, 2016)

Guðni has translated four Stephen King books into Icelandic.[30]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Guðmundsson, Hjörtur J. (3 May 2016). "Hver er þessi Guðni Th.?". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Breaking: Iceland elects new President". Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  3. ↑ "Lamdi bróður sinn og nennir ekki að djamma: Öll litlu atriðin sem þú þarft að vita um Guðna en skipta kannski mestu máli - DV" (in Icelandic). Retrieved 2016-06-28.
  4. ↑ "Guðni Th. Jóhannesson Ferilskrá" (PDF). Ugla (University of Iceland) (in Icelandic). Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  5. ↑ "Curriculum Vitae" (PDF; 166 KB). University of Iceland. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
  6. ↑ "Guðni lýsir yfir framboði". RÚV (in Icelandic). 5 May 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  7. ↑ "Ólafur með 45% en Guðni 38%". Morgunblaðið (in Icelandic). 5 May 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  8. ↑ Fontaine, Paul (11 May 2016). "Guðni Surges Ahead In New Presidential Election Poll". The Reykjavík Grapevine. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  9. ↑ "Lokatölur komnar úr öllum kjördæmum". 26 June 2016. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Milne, Richard; Correspondent, Nordic (26 June 2016). "Iceland elects university historian as president". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 2016-06-26.
  11. ↑ "Political Novice Elected Iceland President Amid Football Fever". NDTV.com. Agence France-Presse. 26 June 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016.
  12. ↑ MMR. "Ánægja með störf forseta ekki mælst hærri". Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  13. ↑ "Aldrei mælst meiri ánægja með störf forseta | Kjarninn" (in Icelandic). 2016-09-05. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  14. 1 2 France-Presse, Agence (2016-12-02). "Iceland's Pirate party invited to form government". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2016-12-19.
  15. ↑ "Vísir - Skattamálin áhyggjuefni í viðræðunum". visir.is. Retrieved 2016-12-19.
  16. ↑ "Katrín búin að hitta Guðna". RÚV. 2016-11-24. Retrieved 2016-12-19.
  17. ↑ "Vísir - Undirliggjandi vantraust og óvissa skapar erfiðleika við myndun ríkisstjórnar". visir.is. Retrieved 2016-12-19.
  18. ↑ "Negotiations on historic five party coalition, led by Left-greens, go well according to Pirate Party leader". Icelandmag. Retrieved 2016-12-19.
  19. ↑ "97 prósent ánægð með Guðna". RÚV. 2016-12-18. Retrieved 2016-12-19.
  20. ↑ "Vísir - Vinsældir forseta í tölu sem sést eiginlega aldrei segir prófessor". visir.is. Retrieved 2016-12-20.
  21. ↑ "Profile in Courage: Iceland's President Denounces Pineapple As a Pizza Topping". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
  22. 1 2 Jóhannesson, Guðni Th. "Guðni Th. Jóhannesson". Archived from the original on 29 May 2016.
  23. 1 2 Hringbraut. "Guðni Th sagði sig úr kaþólsku kirkjunni". Archived from the original on 5 June 2016. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  24. 1 2 3 "Meet Iceland's new first lady: Canadian Eliza Reid". Maclean's (The Canadian Press). 26 June 2016.
  25. ↑ Senest tildelte ordener. The Danish Monarchy. Retrieved 6 May 2018
  26. ↑ Royal Court
  27. ↑ Islannin presidentti Jóhannesson presidentti Niinistön vieraana: Yhteisiä tavoitteita Arktisessa neuvostossa. Retrieved 22 February 2018
  28. ↑ Statsbesök från Island – dag 1. Swedish royal family. Retrieved 26 January 2018
  29. ↑ "Donald Trump is related to most Icelanders and Danish and Norwegian Royalty", Morgunblaðið, Tue 24 Jan 2017
  30. ↑ "Iceland historian Johannesson tipped to be voted president". BBC News. Retrieved 2016-06-25.
Political offices
Preceded by
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson		 President of Iceland
2016–present		 Incumbent
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