Businesswoman Halla Tomasdottir was set on Sunday to turn into Iceland‘s new president, election outcomes confirmed, beating former prime minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, who critics mentioned was too political for the put up.
Jakobsdottir conceded defeat early on Sunday and congratulated Tomasdottir, the CEO of The B Team, a world non-profit co-founded by UK business tycoon Richard Branson to advertise business practices targeted on humanity and the local weather.
Iceland’s president holds a largely ceremonial place within the parliamentary republic, performing as a guarantor of the structure and nationwide unity.
He or she does nevertheless have the facility to veto laws or submit it to a referendum.
Tomasdottir, 55, was formally credited with 34.6 % of votes, after 71.6 % of poll papers had been counted on Sunday.
The 48-year-old Jakobsdottir, who stepped down as prime minister of a left-right authorities in April to run in Saturday’s election, garnered 25 %.
The outcomes confirmed Tomasdottir with a lot stronger help than opinion polls had urged within the run-up to the election, the place the 2 candidates had been seen working neck-and-neck.
The closing outcomes had been prone to change considerably however Jakobsdottir conceded defeat within the early hours of Sunday earlier than the final votes had been in.
“It appears to me that Halla Tomasdottir is rapidly heading in the direction of changing into the subsequent president of Iceland.
“I congratulate her on that and know that she will be a good president,” Jakobsdottir informed nationwide broadcaster RUV at an election night time rally.
Tomasdottir in the meantime informed every day Morgunbladid throughout her election rally she was “just trying to breathe”.
“I feel incredibly good. I know it’s not over until it’s over. So I’m also just trying to stay calm and breathe,” she mentioned.
Tomasdottir can be the founding father of Audur Capital, an funding agency created in 2007 geared toward selling female values within the monetary sector.
No one central problem dominated the marketing campaign, the place candidates historically run as independents with out social gathering affiliations.
In the nation of 380,000 individuals, any citizen gathering 1,500 signatures can run for workplace.
While Jakobsdottir was at occasions seen because the favorite, political observers had urged that her background as prime minister might weigh towards her.
Among the opposite major candidates within the subject of 13 had been a political science professor, a comic, and an Arctic and power scholar.
Tomasdottir is about to be the second lady to function Iceland’s president.
In 1980, Vigdis Finnbogadottir grew to become the world’s first lady democratically elected as head of state.
The businesswoman is about to succeed the massively well-liked Gudni Johannesson, who has held the job since 2016.
He introduced earlier this 12 months that he wouldn’t search re-election.
Jakobsdottir, social gathering chief for the Left Green Movement from 2013 till her presidential bid, has been hailed for her dealing with of the resurgence in volcanic eruptions on the Reykjanes peninsula since December.
The 5 eruptions, together with one final week, have sparked a collection of evacuations in addition to the state’s acquisition of properties from residents evacuated from the threatened fishing city of Grindavik.
Source: www.anews.com.tr