Iceland’s constitutional council has put forth the first draft for a new constitution for Iceland in its progress report.
The draft will be discussed by committees and will likely take some changes before being sent to Althingi as a bill in the coming days. It is thought that the draft bill to parliament will be presented to the president of Althingi on the 29th July.
Among the notable points in the proposed new constitution are that the government would be legally bound to provide unhindered internet access to the public — but that the Lutheran church is the National Church of Iceland is not to be found in the document, Visir.is reported.
The President of the Republic would not be permitted to sit more than three terms, the voices of 15 percent of the electorate would be able to put bills to Althingi and also force parliamentary issues to a referendum.
The number of government ministers would be capped at ten and ministers would be forced to give up their Althingi seats.
Iceland’s natural resources would be designated public property and no private organisation or individual would be permitted to own them or rights connected to them.
The draft articles have been published on the constitutional council’s website for all to see.
My respect and congratulations.
Is there hope that Iceland will export members of this constitutional council in the future? We would need these people urgently.
Bestu kveður
Björn
These points I read here are making sense…I would go for it.
One thing though which I never understood in most democratic parliamentarian republics…why are the terms of presidents (who holds no “real” power) are always limited, but the guys who have the powers (PM’s) are non-limited… Shouldn’t it be the other way around to avoid a power cluster? I think it’s the same in Germany (President 2 terms max, Chancellor unlimited) and Italy, and most other non-presidential democracies.