Althing
|
Icelandic Parliament Alþingi Íslendinga |
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|---|---|
 |
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| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 63 |
 |
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Political groups
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Governing coalition (32)
Opposition parties (31)
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| Elections | |
| Party-list proportional representation | |
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Last election
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29 October 2016 |
| Meeting place | |
 |
|
|
Alþingishúsið Austurvöllur 150 Reykjavík Iceland |
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| Website | |
| www |
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Governing coalition (32)
Opposition parties (31)
The Alþingi (anglicised as Althing or Althingi) is the national parliament of Iceland. It is one of the oldest extant parliamentary institutions in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at Þingvellir, the "assembly fields" or "Parliament fields", situated approximately 45 kilometres (28 mi) east of what later became the country's capital, Reykjavík. This event marked the beginning of the Icelandic Commonwealth. Even after Iceland's union with Norway in 1262, the Althing still held its sessions at Þingvellir until 1799, when it was discontinued for 45 years. It was restored in 1844 and moved to Reykjavík, where it has resided ever since. The present parliament building, the Alþingishús, was built in 1881, of hewn Icelandic stone.
The constitution of Iceland provides for six electoral constituencies with the possibility of an increase to seven. The constituency boundaries are fixed by legislation. Each constituency elects nine members. In addition, each party is allocated seats based on its proportion of the overall national vote in order that the number of members in parliament for each political party should be more or less proportional to its overall electoral support. A party must have won at least five per cent of the national vote in order to be eligible for these proportionally distributed seats. Political participation in Iceland is very high: usually over 80 per cent of the electorate casts a ballot (79.2% in 2016). The current president of the Althing is Steingrímur J. Sigfússon.
The Althingi is one of the oldest extant parliamentary institutions in the world. Its establishment, as an outdoor assembly or thing held on the plains of Þingvellir ("Thing Fields") from about the year 930 AD, laid the foundation for an independent national existence in Iceland. To begin with, the Althing was a general assembly of the Icelandic Commonwealth, where the country's most powerful Leaders (goðar) met to decide on legislation and dispense justice. Then, all free men could attend the assemblies, which were usually the main social event of the year and drew large crowds of farmers and their families, parties involved in legal disputes, traders, craftsmen, storytellers and travellers. Those attending the assembly dwelt in temporary camps (búðir) during the session. The centre of the gathering was the Lögberg, or Law Rock, a rocky outcrop on which the Lawspeaker (lögsögumaður) took his seat as the presiding official of the assembly. His responsibilities included reciting aloud the laws in effect at the time. It was his duty to proclaim the procedural law of Althing to those attending the assembly each year.
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Wikipedia