Iceland: Guðni Jóhannesson Elected new President

Guðni Th. Jóhannesson is Iceland’s first new president in twenty years, and will replace President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson who is now stepping down after having served five consecutive terms.

When two thirds of the votes had been counted, Jóhannesson had 38 percent support, and over 10 percent lead over the second place contender, Iceland Monitor reports.

Jóhannesson will be sworn in as the 6th President of the Republic of Iceland, and will move into the Bessastaðir presidential residence along with his Canadian-born wife and their four young children, on August 1st.

Jóhannesson, born in 1968, is a Historian and Associate Professor.

According to Iceland Review there are 245.004 registered voters in Iceland.

When 87.293 votes had been counted, Guðni had received 38.6 percent of the vote, businesswoman Halla Tómasdóttir 29.4 percent, author and environmentalist Andri Snær Magnason 13.9 percent, Morgunblaðið editor Davíð Oddsson 13 percent and truck driver Sturla Jónsson 3.7 percent.