From Iceland — Big Changes For Parliament Proposed

Big Changes For Parliament Proposed

Published July 13, 2011

The constitutional committee has proposed a number of changes to the very structure of parliament, including how the prime minister is chosen.
Eyjan reports that the drafted proposal has parliament vote for the new prime minister by simple majority. Another option is that the president of Iceland can propose who the next prime minister should be, which parliament then votes on.
Should parliament by unable to reach a decision within ten weeks in either case, the body is dissolved and new elections are to be held.
Once the prime minister is chosen, they are then to appoint ministers, but no more than ten.
Another interesting twist: no minister can retain their position at the same ministry for longer than eight years. If this had been the case since the beginning, Davíð Oddsson would have been forced to step down as prime minister in 1999. Imagine what the country would have been like then.

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