National Assembly (Iceland)
Encyclopedia
National Assembly of 1851
The National Assembly of 1851 (IcelandicIcelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
Þjóðfundurinn 1851) was a constitutional convention
Constitutional convention (political meeting)
A constitutional convention is now a gathering for the purpose of writing a new constitution or revising an existing constitution. A general constitutional convention is called to create the first constitution of a political unit or to entirely replace an existing constitution...
called to decide the political status of Iceland. The assembly was called in 1848, in the liberal atmosphere following the Spring of Nations
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
. But in 1851, when the assembly finally met, the political tide had turned and conservative forces had regained strength.
The Danes presented a bill to the assembly which would have made the Danish Constitution of 1849 valid in Iceland with an exception concerning the legislative power. Iceland was to get six seats in the Danish Parliament. The delegates prepared an alternative bill, proposing a constitution for a practically independent Iceland in personal union with the Danish king.
Seeing that the delegates would never agree to the Danish bill and believing them to have no authority to discuss the alternative bill, Governor Trampe decided to dissolve the Assembly. At that point Jón Sigurðsson
Jón Sigurðsson
Jón Sigurðsson was the leader of the 19th century Icelandic independence movement.Born at Hrafnseyri, near Arnarfjörður in the Westfjords area of Iceland, he was the son of a pastor, Sigurður Jónsson. He moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1833 to study grammar and history at the university there...
rose to protest, saying:
- And I protest in the name of the King and the people against this procedure, and I reserve for the Assembly the right to complain to the King about this act of illegality.
The official record of the meeting goes on to say: "Then the members of the Assembly rose and most of them said as if with one voice:
- We all protest!"
The constitutional status of Iceland was to remain an unresolved issue for decades to come.
The National Assemblies or Forums of 2009 and 2010
The National Assembly or National Forum of 2009 (IcelandicIcelandic language
Icelandic is a North Germanic language, the main language of Iceland. Its closest relative is Faroese.Icelandic is an Indo-European language belonging to the North Germanic or Nordic branch of the Germanic languages. Historically, it was the westernmost of the Indo-European languages prior to the...
: Þjóðfundur 2009) was an assembly of Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
ic citizens at the Laugardalshöll
Laugardalshöll
Laugardalshöll is an indoor sporting arena located in Reykjavík, Iceland. The capacity of the arena is 5,500 people.It hosts various sporting events, such as team handball....
in Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
on November 14, 2009, organized by a group of grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
movements such as Anthil. It was part of the Kitchenware Revolution that happened in the wake of the Icelandic financial crisis. The Forun would settle the ground for the 2011 Contitutional Assembly
Icelandic Constitutional Assembly
An Icelandic Constitutional Assembly for the purpose of reviewing the Constitution of the Republic was summoned by an act of Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, on June 16, 2010 as a conseccuence of the Kitchenware Revolution. In an election on November 27, 2010, 25 delegates were elected...
and was streamed by the Internet to the publics.
1.500 people were invited to participate in the assembly; of these, 1.200 were chosen at random from the national registry, while 300 were representatives of companies, institutions and other groups. Participants represented a cross section of Icelandic society, ranging in age from 18 to 88 and spanning all six constituencies of Iceland
Constituencies of Iceland
Iceland is divided into 6 constituencies for the purpose of selecting representatives to the Alþingi .-History:The current division was established by a 1999 constitution amendment and was an attempt to balance the weight of different districts of the country whereby voters in the rural districts...
, with 73, 77, 89, 365 and 621 people attending from the Northwest
Norðvesturkjördæmi
NorðvesturkjördæmiNorthwestCountry:Main town: AkranesArea:? km²Population:30,493 Electors:21,924 Established:1999Representatives to Alþingi:9Composition:27 municipalities 11 counties 3 regionsWebsite:?...
, Northeast
Norðausturkjördæmi
NorðausturkjördæmiNortheastCountry:Main town: AkureyriArea:? km²Population:39,621 Electors:28,362 Established:1999Representatives to Alþingi:10Composition:21 municipalities 5 counties 2 regionsWebsite:?...
, South
Suðurkjördæmi
SuðurkjördæmiSouthCountry:Main town: KeflavíkArea:? km²Population:47,810 Electors:32,505 Established:1999Representatives to Alþingi:10Composition:20 municipalities 5 counties 3 regionsWebsite:?...
, Southwest
Suðvesturkjördæmi
SuðvesturkjördæmiSouthwestCountry:Main town: KópavogurArea:? km²Population:82,045 Electors:58,203 Established:1999Representatives to Alþingi:12Composition:7 municipalities 1 county 1 regionWebsite:?...
and Reykjavík
Reykjavík
Reykjavík is the capital and largest city in Iceland.Its latitude at 64°08' N makes it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói Bay...
(combined), respectively; 47% of the attendants were women, while 53% were men.
On 16th June, 2010 a Constitutional Act was accepted by parliament and a new Forum was summoned . The Constitutional Act prescribed that the participants of the Forum had to be randomly sampled from the National Population Register, “with due regard to a reasonable distribution of participants across the country and an equal division between genders, to the extent possible”. The National Forum 2010 was iniciated by the government on 6th November, 2010 and had 950 random participants, organized in subcommisions, which would present a 700 page document that would be the basis for constitutional changes, which would debate a future Constitutional Assembly. The Forum 2010 came in to being due to the efforts of both governing parties and the Anthill group. A seven-headed Constitutional Committee, appointed by the parliament, was charged with the supervision of the forum and the presentation of its results, while the organization and facilitation of the National Forum 2010 was done by the Anthill group that had organized the first Forum 2009.
The Constitutional Assembly of 2010
As part of the Kitchenware Revolution, in June, 2010 Alþingi approved laws to have a people Constitutional AssemblyIcelandic Constitutional Assembly
An Icelandic Constitutional Assembly for the purpose of reviewing the Constitution of the Republic was summoned by an act of Althingi, the Icelandic parliament, on June 16, 2010 as a conseccuence of the Kitchenware Revolution. In an election on November 27, 2010, 25 delegates were elected...
, that would work over the 2009 National Assembly proposes, to get a collective insight for a new constitutional reform of Iceland. That work ended in the election of 25 people
Icelandic Constitutional Assembly election, 2010
An election was held for an constitutional assembly in Iceland on 27 November 2010. The Supreme Court of Iceland invalidated the results of the election on 25 January 2011 following complaints about several faults in how the election was conducted, while there was no evidence that the flaws in the...
of no political sign on 26th October, 2010. The Supreme Court of Iceland
Supreme Court of Iceland
The Supreme Court of Iceland holds the highest judicial power in Iceland. It is the oldest court of law in Iceland and the higher of the two court branches, while the District Courts of Iceland are the lower. Nine judges sit in the court and hold command over the President of Iceland in accordance...
invalidated the results of the election on January 25, 2011 following complaints about several faults in how the election was conducted., but the Parliament decided that those 25 elects would be a part of a Contitutional Council and the Constitutional change went on. In 29th July, 2011 the draft was presented to the Parliament.