Iceland elects businesswoman Halla Tomasdottir as president

London. Halla Tomasdottir, businesswoman and investor, gained the Icelandic presidential elections, beating a protracted checklist of candidates in a vote wherein the three finest positioned folks have been girls, based on the nation’s nationwide media community this Sunday.

Tomasdottir was elected to the largely ceremonial publish with 34.3 p.c of the vote, forward of former Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdottir, with 25.2 p.c, and Halla Hrund Logadottir, with 15.5 p.c, based on RUV.

Tomasdottir, 55, centered his marketing campaign on presenting himself as an individual above partisan divides and who might assist begin debates on elementary points such because the impact of social networks on the psychological well being of younger folks, the event of Iceland as vacationer vacation spot and the position of synthetic intelligence.

He’ll change President Gudni Th. Johannesson, who was not in search of re-election after two four-year phrases. Tomasdottir will take workplace on August 1.

Iceland, a Nordic island nation within the North Atlantic, has about 358,000 inhabitants and a protracted custom of electing girls to vital positions. Vigdis Finbogadottir was the primary democratically elected president of any nation when she grew to become Icelandic head of state in 1980.

The nation additionally had two girls prime ministers lately, providing stability in rocky years. Johanna Sigurdardottir led the federal government between 2009 and 2013, after the worldwide monetary disaster devastated the Icelandic financial system. Jakobsdottir grew to become prime minister in 2017 and led a broad coalition that ended a cycle of crises that had precipitated three elections in 4 years. She resigned in April to run for president.

Tomasdottir rose to prominence through the monetary disaster, when she was acknowledged because the founding father of Audur Capital, one of many few Icelandic funding corporations that survived the disaster. She is now on depart as CEO of B Staff, a non-governmental group that promotes variety in work environments and has workplaces in New York and London.