The opinions of the assembly
Iceland just held a vote for a citizen assembly that is meant to draft a new constitution. The old constitution is a bit outdated and not clear on many things. It was adopted in 1944 mostly by taking the Danish constitution and replacing the word ‘king’ with ‘president’, since Iceland doesn’t have a monarchy. It has only been amended 7 times in the last 60 years and numerous attempts (by the political forces) at a wholesale revision have failed. Hence the citizen assembly.
Curious as ever I used the opinions listed by the candidates (on dv.is) to figure out the majority opinion of this newly elected assembly. 25 members were elected, of which 2 (8%) did not respond to any of the questions in the survey below. But here are the results, for those interested…
Hopefully my translations of the questions didn’t change their meaning. Also, if you spot data errors, let me know and I’ll fix them promptly. The raw data (for error checking purposes) is here.
1. Are you in favor of amending the constitution?
2. Are you in favor of adding to the constitution a clause listing the Icelandic nation
as the owner of Iceland’s natural resources?
3. Are you in favor of retaining the clause specifying a state-sponsored church?
Note: mbl.is has identified one who didn’t respond to the questions sent by dv.is
but who says he wants to get rid of this clause, so one of the red pies above could be just a tad bigger (+4%).
4. Are you in favor of the Icelandic president retaining the power
to refer laws to a national referendum?
5. Are you in favor of voting more often in national referendums?
6. Are you in favor of voting for individuals (as opposed to political parties)?
7. Are you in favor of directly voting for cabinet members (as opposed to voting for parties)?
8. Are you in favor of members of parliament retaining their seat
once they become governmental ministers?
9. Should the voting age be lowered or raised?
10. Are you in favor of continuing to allow only the justice minister
to retain power to appoint justices to the supreme court?
11. Which option best describes your views on
how to change the number of constituencies in Iceland?
12. Should all votes to parliamentary elections have equal significance?
(With the current system, votes cast by people within the capital carry lesser weight than others)
13. Who should be able to refer decisions to a national referendum?
This was the only question where more than one option could be selected. Votes cast
for both ‘Minority of parliament’ and ‘Majority of parliament’ get counted only as
‘Minority of parliament’, so that it is obvious who want only the majority to have that power.
14. Should the outcome of national referendums be advisory or binding?
15. Are you in favor of parliamentary rule as a system of governance or presidential rule?
16. Are you in favor of allowing the public to elect judges?
17. Are you in favor of opening up parliamentary investigations to the public?
18. Are you in favor of one politically appointed minister of government
having the power to appoint public positions (within his/her domain)?
19. Should the constitution increase or curtail the powers of the Icelandic president?
20. Should the voting system be based on a simple majority (winner takes all) in
single-member constituencies or be proportional?
21. Should size of parliament be changed?
22. Are you in favor of setting term limits for the president of Iceland?
23. Are you in favor of setting term limits for the prime minister of Iceland?
24. Are you in favor of Icelandic being listed as the national language in the constitution?
25. Are you in favor of ensuring equality independent of sexual orientation?
26. Are you in favor of mandating Iceland be free of any nuclear weapons?
27. Are you in favor of ensuring the citizen’s right to access information concerning national interest?
COMMENTS