The names of the 18 people who moved their legal address to Árneshreppur was leaked to the public by a former MP. While some of these people do have connections to the sparsely populated north Iceland region, officials believe that many others are attempting to influence upcoming municipal elections.
As reported, according to data from the National Registry, the population of Árneshreppur increased by 40% between April 24 and May 4. Before this period, there were 44 legally registered households in the region, but 17 individuals reportedly moved their legal residence to Árneshreppur during this 10-day period alone.
Kristinn H. Gunnarsson, a former MP and a Westfjords native, published a list of names on his blog that actually shows that 18 people moved their legal residence to Árneshreppur. He points out that of special interest is that 11 of these people have “moved” to Drangar alone.
At stake in Árneshreppur in particular is the planned construction of a power plant on Hvalá river. Most residents support the building of the power plant, raising questions about whether Árneshreppur’s “new arrivals” intend to sway elections in the other direction. However, some of these new arrivals actually do have connections to the area – as Kristinn points out, Hrafn Jökulsson and Sif Konráðsdóttir, both of whom do have familial connections to the area, have moved their legal residence to the region, along with their respective children.
Vísir reports that where the other names on the list are concerned, the law offices of Sókn put together a memo stating that they believe there is an attempt at influencing the elections being made here. Furthermore, the list of names that Kristinn has leaked is not available on any publicly accessible website.
The matter is still under investigation.
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