Former prime minister for the Independent party and current co-editor of newspaper Morgunblaðið, Davíð Oddsson, controversial and legendary conservative politician in Iceland has announced his decision to join in the race for the office of precedent of Iceland.
Oddsson announced his decision on the air in a radio program at Bylgjan radio this morning and said he intended to see how he’d be received. “I only recently started to seriously contemplate running, its only been a few days really, so I’m going in blind” he said. When asked why he made the decision he said “the menu of precedential candidates needs more variety – there’s yet room for one more flavor” furthermore he said that his considerable experience and knowledge would be useful for the precedency.
Oddsson recalled despite being on friendly terms in person, he and current precedent Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson were political adversaries back in the days „I did’t vote for Grímsson in 1996 but I can’t deny that I found him and his first wife Guðrún Katrín handsome first couple and they did an elegant job in office, later Grimsson did remarkable things in office, for excamle during the years of the crash and regarding the IceSave accounts, this took currage and his performance was an admirable one, Oddsson goes on adding that his decision to run for the sixth term after previously announcing not to is not a good one. His time is office has become to long and his reasons for changing his mind and running are unsatisfactory he said. Many speculate that Oddsson’s decision will put a dent on Grimsson’s momentum in the polls; they might compete for voters, leaving younger candidates with a more competitive playing field.
Davíð Oddsson was born on january 17th in 1948, He is the longest-serving Prime Minister of Iceland, holding office from 1991 to 2004. From 2004 to 2005 he served as Foreign Minister. Before that he was Mayor of Reykjavík from 1982 to 1991, and he chaired the board of governors of the Central Bank of Iceland from 2005 to 2009. The collapse of Iceland’s banking system led to vocal demands for his resignation both by members of the Icelandic public and by the new Icelandic Prime Minister Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, which resulted in him being replaced as head of the Central Bank in March 2009. In September 2009 he was tok a position at Morgunblaðið as co-editor. Morgunblaðið one of Iceland’s oldest and more established newspapers, and was one of it’s largest as well, but the decision caused nationwide controversy and was followed by resignations and widespread terminated subscriptions.