Turnout: 75.70%
About this election
Iceland's presidential election of 25 June 2016 marked the end of an era. Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson, president for twenty years, stepped down, and the history professor and political newcomer Guðni Th. Jóhannesson won a plurality of 39.08% of the vote to succeed him. He defeated the entrepreneur Halla Tómasdóttir (27.93%), who surged late in the campaign, the author and environmentalist Andri Snær Magnason (14.26%), and former prime minister Davíð Oddsson (13.75%). Guðni took office on 1 August 2016 as only the sixth president of the republic and its first new head of state in two decades. Turnout was 75.70%.
The President of Iceland is a directly elected, largely ceremonial head of state, chosen by nationwide plurality in a single round — the candidate with the most votes wins, with no run-off. Candidates must be Icelandic citizens of at least 35 years of age and qualify by collecting endorsement signatures. Though usually above party politics, the presidency carries real reserve powers: most notably the ability to refer legislation to a national referendum, which Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson had used to dramatic effect during the post-crash Icesave disputes.
The election was called in the turbulence following the Panama Papers, which had toppled the prime minister and briefly drawn Ólafur Ragnar back toward a sixth-term bid before he withdrew. Into an unusually open field stepped Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, a University of Iceland historian and a specialist on the Cod Wars, who had become a familiar public voice explaining the constitutional crisis on television. His scholarly calm and distance from party politics made him the front-runner. In the closing days, interest waned as the nation's attention turned to Iceland's fairy-tale run at the Euro 2016 football tournament.
Guðni's comfortable plurality confirmed a public appetite for a modern, unifying and non-partisan presidency after two decades of the more interventionist Ólafur Ragnar. Halla Tómasdóttir's strong second place, built on a late grassroots surge, made her a national figure — and would prove a foundation for her own successful run eight years later.
Turnout of 75.70% was somewhat below the levels seen in Icelandic parliamentary elections, as is usual for the presidency, but still high by international standards for a largely ceremonial office.
The 2016 election installed a president who would provide a steady, apolitical anchor through a period of parliamentary instability, guiding repeated and difficult government-formation processes. Guðni Th. Jóhannesson would be re-elected in a landslide in 2020 before choosing not to seek a third term in 2024.
The field of nine was unusually broad, reflecting the openness of a contest without an incumbent. Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, the eventual winner, was a University of Iceland historian who had become a trusted public voice during the post-crash crises. Halla Tómasdóttir, a businesswoman and co-founder of an investment firm, ran a values-driven campaign that surged late to second place. The author and environmentalist Andri Snær Magnason carried the hopes of the cultural left, while Davíð Oddsson — a former long-serving prime minister and central bank governor closely associated with the pre-crash era — polarised opinion and finished fourth.
Although the presidency is largely ceremonial, it is not powerless. Under Article 26 of the constitution the president can decline to sign a bill into law, sending it instead to a binding national referendum — a power Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson had wielded to block the Icesave agreements over compensation for foreign depositors after the banking collapse. Guðni signalled a more restrained, unifying reading of the office, promising to use such powers sparingly and to act as a stabilising figure above the party fray — a posture that would be tested by the repeated government crises of the years that followed.
Figures from Statistics Iceland (Hagstofa Íslands) and the National Electoral Commission (landskjörstjórn). The president is elected on a single nationwide count, so no official constituency breakdown is published.
Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, a University of Iceland historian and political newcomer, won a plurality of 39.1%, defeating entrepreneur Halla Tómasdóttir (27.9%). He took office on 1 August 2016.
The president is a largely ceremonial head of state elected directly by nationwide plurality in a single round — the candidate with the most votes wins, with no run-off — for a four-year term.
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson stepped down after twenty years and five terms in office, making 2016 the first election of a new Icelandic president in two decades.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.