President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson turns seventy today, the local papers report.
Having been elected to the office five consecutive times and sat as president for six thousand days, Ólafur is the longest serving Icelandic president in the country’s history as an independent republic.
Ólafur was born in Ísafjörður, graduated from Menntaskólinn in Reykjavík in 1962 and completed his PhD in political science from the University of Manchester in 1970. He went into politics shortly after and served among other things as MP and leader of the People’s Alliance before becoming an Independent in 1996.
Ólafur is known for being the first Icelandic president to use his right to veto law passed by the Alþingi, demanding that issues such as media law and Icesave be put to a referendum.
According to mbl, no public ceremony or cake sharing has been announced as the president plans to celebrate with his family in private. Ólafur also celebrates his tenth anniversary with his wife Dorrit Moussaieff today.
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