Icelandic president Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson will meet today with organisers of a petition calling for the Icesave law to be vetoed and put up for public referendum.
As has been reported, on Wednesday parliament voted the Icesave deal between Iceland, the UK and Holland into law, 44 votes against 16. The bill has received overwhelming support from not only the ruling coalition but also most of the conservatives in the opposition. The law was sent to the president for signing the same day.
A group of people had earlier this week started an online petition calling upon parliament to either vote down the bill, or for the president to veto it and put it up for referendum. The president had done precisely that the year previous with the old Icesave deal, but at that time some 56,000 signatures were on a similar petition, and the old Icesave deal had barely squeaked through parliament, 33 votes to 30.
This time around, there are about 41,000 signatures on the petition, and it has already been pointed out that the website itself is flawed, as some have contended it was possible to sign the petition multiple times or use false names.
Nonetheless, the president will be meeting with petition organisers today to receive the signatures, Vísir reports. The president, for his part, has not yet said whether or not he intends to sign the law, although a recent opinion poll has shown that about 62% of Icelanders believe the matter should ultimately be decided by the people.
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